Transformers Prime: Newer World Order
by Fatal Intestinal Maelstrom
Summary: Another old enemy attacks suddenly, taking hostages and targeting Jack and Arcee. And having grown sick and tired of people going after her son, June decides to get much more deeply involved in the action. [Story begins about two weeks after "Harbinger" ended.]
1. Chapter 1

"Here we go," Miko said under her breath as she stared at something behind Jack. He turned to find her host parents approaching.

 _Just what we need, another argument._ Jack glanced at Arcee, standing at the edge of the training room. She and Bulkhead were watching via their human-size Pretender bodies, along with Miko's real parents and an assortment of base personnel. Ashanti's team, along with others who expected to find themselves combating enemy troops sooner or later, had been learning a new set of combat techniques over the past couple of weeks. Jack and Miko had joined them, since Decepticon-related trouble always ended up finding them one way or another.

It made sense for Miko to be here, anyway, since a lot of the new moves were inspired by her inventive use of her armor's jetpack during a sparring match with Ashanti. She wanted to continue going on missions with the rest of the team, and had been fighting with both sets of parents over it ever since they'd arrived at the base two weeks ago. Her host-mother had been objecting to it more strongly than anyone else, though her host-father seemed increasingly weary of Camille's hostility to nearly everyone involved.

With Miko's real parents, visiting from Japan, the dynamic appeared to be reversed, with her mother beginning to see Miko's side of the argument as time passed. Her father was harder to read, remaining stoic for the most part. The only times he showed any emotion, it was usually sternness while watching Miko training with the actual soldiers. Still, he clearly didn't approve of any of this.

Ashanti clapped her hands, snapping Jack's attention back to her. "Okay, everybody, let's see how well this has sunk in. Grab a sparring partner."

Arcee grinned and blew a kiss at Jack. His heart beat a little faster and he tried to blow one back at her, but ended up slapping his hand into the front of his helmet. His face grew hot and he hung his head while Arcee laughed.

Miko reached out to a member of the support unit and grabbed his arm. "Okay, Terwilliger, you and me." She dragged him to the center of the mat.

"Gee, how did I know you'd want to be the first one to show off?" Ashanti laughed, glanced around, and motioned at Jack. "Everybody else has already paired up, so you're stuck with me."

Jack nodded and joined her as she and the others moved to the wall to give Miko and Terwilliger some maneuvering room.

"Kick his ass, Miko!" Bulkhead thrust a fist into the air.

"Take it easy, Bulk." Terwilliger held his hands up. "It's just for training." He glanced at Ashanti. "Uh, you might wanna be ready to notify my next of kin, just in case."

A quick laugh rippled around the room. Miko's mom smiled, while her dad remained expressionless and her host-mom shook her head and sneered.

"Come on, Camille," Miko's host-dad whispered, "stop being a wet blanket."

"You want me to let her start thinking we'll allow this to continue?" She scowled at him. "She's going back home, and that's final."

"Honey, look how much she's changed in the last few months. Before, she spent more time in detention than all of her classmates combined, she didn't care about anything but goofing off, and she didn't even have any friends. Look how driven she is now. She actually cares about what's at stake, she has friends who care about her, and she feels like she can make a difference."

Camille glanced at him and rolled her eyes. He shook his head and sighed.

"Even if she goes back home, you can't deny that she's changed for the better over the past few months. She's grown up a lot."

Camille just stared as Miko and Terwilliger faced off.

Terwilliger fired his thrusters and launched into the air. Miko kept her eyes on him, took a few steps back, and snapped her arms up to protect herself. He fired another set of thrusters, shooting himself down at her, and cocked his right fist back. Miko's suit thrusters fired, scooting her to the right, and Terwilliger slammed through empty space and into the mat. Miko immediately jetted back to the left and swung her right fist. He blocked it and jabbed at her visor. She jerked to the side, lit up another set of jets, spun around, and landed a kick to his gut that sent him reeling across the mat.

"Yeah!" Bulkhead clapped, his metal hands producing a clanging that made several nearby people wince. "Go get him!"

Terwilliger picked himself up just in time to block a flurry of kicks and punches, and finally got off a left hook that connected with the side of Miko's helmet. She staggered off to the side, shook her head, and then spun around as Terwilliger's jets launched him straight at her. She landed a wheel-kick to the side of his head and fired her thrusters, spinning herself around with her arms extended, and her fists smashed into his helmet at least a dozen times before he could back away from her.

"Whoa." Josephine Chang, one of Ashanti's team members, grimaced. "If I tried that, I'd totally vomit in my helmet."

Miko hooked her foot behind Terwilliger's left ankle and swept his leg out from under him. He started to topple over, and she slammed her arm across his chest, smashing him to the floor. Then she pounced on him and fired a continuous burn from the jets on her back, pinning him to the floor. He struggled, but couldn't pick himself back up.

"Not bad, kid." Ashanti applauded.

"He _let_ her win," Camille grumbled.

"I really didn't," Terwilliger muttered. "I didn't want to hurt her, but if I'd known I was gonna get _spanked_ , I would've tried a lot harder. But I didn't exactly take a dive, either." He seemed to become fully aware of Miko on top of him and cleared his throat. "Not that I'm complaining, though."

"Christ," Chang said. "She's _fifteen_."

"I know. It makes my skin crawl, if that's any consolation." He turned back to Miko. "Um, if you wouldn't mind letting me up …?"

Miko hopped off him, grasped his hand, and helped him back to his feet.

Camille took a step toward him. "If you even _think_ about touching her -"

"Whoa, hold on." Miko planted herself between them and took her helmet off. "He knows he can't touch me. But y'know what? I'm okay with him _thinking_ about it as much as he wants." She glanced at Terwilliger, winked, and walked over to stand near her parents.

"Bravo." Ashanti gave Miko a thumbs-up. "Nice move with the thrusters to pin him down. I hadn't thought of that before."

Miko bowed theatrically.

"Okay, it's almost lunchtime, but we've got room for a few more rounds. Who's next?"

"Think I've been embarrassed enough for one day," Terwilliger said. Then he glanced over at Camille and added, "Actually, I need to go crank one out."

Miko snickered and then seemed to panic when she saw the rage on Camille's face. Miko stepped in front of her again and shook her head.

"Take it easy. He's just saying that to push your buttons." She smirked. "On the other hand, I'm glad to know I can get someone all fired up like that."

Ashanti cleared her throat. "Time's a-wastin'. Kefira, how about you take center stage? Let's see how your new legs are working out."

* * *

"How's it going, guys?" Jack sat at the picnic table, placed his tray in front of him, and let out a long sigh.

"Not bad at all, now that we've managed to go a couple of weeks without a crisis." June smiled as Arcee's doppelgänger sat beside him with her own tray. "I had my reservations about all this when I found out about it, but my schedule here is actually normal, so that's definitely one in the 'win' column." She glanced over at both sets of Miko's parents, Miko herself, and several others at the adjacent table. "When I worked at the hospital in Jasper, I worked long hours and was on call the rest of the time, which made it really hard to be there for Jack. It's nice to finally have some time with him on a regular basis, and to get a decent amount of sleep and do other things most people take for granted."

Miko nodded. "Ashanti said one of the first things General Sanchez did when he took command of the base was to make sure the medical staff was big enough for everyone to nine-to-five it instead of working eighteen hours at a stretch."

"I'm endlessly grateful for that." June grinned and nudged Jack's shoulder. "Makes me wish you'd brought me in on all this when you first got caught up in it, yourself."

"Some of the people I went to school with have parents who work in the hospital in Jasper," Sierra said, leaning over to wave at Jack and Arcee. "I've heard how stressful it is. The only up side I can imagine is all the stories I've heard about things emergency-room surgeons have removed from people's rectums."

June snorted. "It's not much of an up side when you're the one performing those operations."

"And some rectums are probably worse than others. I'd probably throw up if I had to take something out of Weird Walter's asshole."

"I can't go into specifics. Patient confidentiality, y'know."

Miko grinned suddenly. "How about just telling us a few of the objects you've had to remove? No identifying info, just the objects themselves."

"While we're _eating_?" Camille scowled at her.

"Yep." Miko took a bite of her tuna sandwich. "Come on, let 'er rip."

"Maybe some other time. Not during lunch." June grimaced. " _Especially_ if it's something that reminds me of Weird Walter."

"Oh, speaking of which." Sierra braced her elbow on the table and smirked. "Well, not him, exactly, but someone who's probably related to him. Wouldn't surprise me, at least. Anyway, Theresa, the town prostitute."

"Oh, dear." June shook her head. "Don't think I _want_ to know."

"Oh, you do, trust me. This is _fantastic_. My cousin Jade was waiting in line at the bank yesterday, when Theresa was exchanging some foreign currency. A couple of busloads of dudes from another country - Jade didn't say where - went through town on some sort of tour. They stopped at the new casino on the edge of town, and apparently Theresa did all of 'em. She brought a ton of money to the bank, but because of the exchange rate, she ended up with only two dollars."

Everyone gaped at her. Miko burst into laughter.

"No way! All that 'work' for nothing!"

"Yep. She wasn't happy. She argued with the teller for a minute, then yelled, 'You mean I fucked all those guys for _two dollars_?' Everyone in the bank heard her."

"Oh, no!" June tried to hold in a laugh, but couldn't. Beside her, Miko's host-dad clamped a hand over his mouth and shook with silent laughter until his face turned red.

Boots and metal footsteps approaching from behind caught June's attention. She took a slow breath and glanced over her shoulder to find several new arrivals. She recognized Jensen and Khalilah and several of the Pretenders living on the base, but one of them was new. Built like a brick shithouse, but just curvy enough to be obviously female, tan in color, with red lenses over her optics that reminded June of aviator-style sunglasses from the 1980s. It took her a moment to recall her name - Strika, the former Decepticon general who'd arrived with Elita-1's team two weeks ago.

 _Interesting. She never seemed the type to bother linking up to a Pretender body unless it gave her a tactical advantage. Which it really wouldn't, as far as I know._ June shrugged it off and greeted them with a smile.

"Hey, everybody." Jensen took a seat at the end of the table to June's left and slid his crutches under the table. Khalilah sat beside him and slipped her arm around his shoulders. He grinned and said, "How're things?"

"Still quiet, aside from what Sierra just told us." June snickered.

"Which was …?" Jensen cocked his head. Sierra repeated it for him, giggling the whole time. When she finished, he burst out laughing, slumped over the table, and buried his face in his hands until he regained control of himself. He took a deep breath and said, " _Wow_!"

Everyone else laughed along with him, except Strika. She merely swept her optics over the others and looked slightly bewildered.

 _Well, she's only been on Earth for a couple of weeks. She'll have to learn a lot about humans to understand why this was hilarious._ June waited for the laughter to subside before asking him, "How're things coming with the new ship?"

"They're ahead of schedule, last I heard. Elita's squad has been a huge help. They and everyone else working on the ship have been putting the components together faster than our fabricators can crank 'em out. And now that we have the ship Wheeljack stole from the 'Cons, lifting the pieces into orbit for final assembly is a piece of cake."

"That is where I am actually located," Strika said. "I am currently helping assemble the ship, until my presence is required in another strategy session. The ship is being built for a primarily human crew, to make it easier for them to operate the controls, so the Cybertronians who are joining them on the mission will be using human-sized copies of themselves. Our real bodies will be stored in the ship's cargo holds until we're needed for planetfall."

"Ah, I was wondering why you finally started using one of those bodies," June said. "Taking it for a spin?"

"I am learning how to operate it, yes. It is … taking some time to adjust to."

"It has some features you might like," Khalilah said. She nuzzled Jensen and added, "I certainly enjoy them."

"Ah, yes. A considerable number of our new allies have mentioned those features to me. They seem pointless, though I must admit I am … _slightly_ intrigued. Perhaps I will explore them at some later point, when there is time for such trivial matters." Strika glanced around and her gaze settled on Sierra. "Ah. You are the one named Sierra, correct?"

"Yes."

"In spare moments, I've been reviewing video of the combat simulation some of you were engaged in just before we arrived. Your performance was particularly impressive."

"Combat?" Sierra stared at her and then glanced around at everyone else.

Jack frowned, then he grinned. "Oh, I think she means the night we all got together and played _GTA Online_."

"Oh! Yeah, that was the most fun I'd had in a long time."

Miko leaned over to her and whispered, "Aside from the nights you've been spending with Smokescreen?"

Sierra's face turned bright red and she stared at her food. Miko grinned and performed the "docking" gesture with her hands. Sierra quickly slapped Miko's hands down and her blush intensified.

" _Anyway_ ," Sierra mumbled. She glanced up at Strika. "Um, thanks. About the 'combat simulation,' I mean."

Strika nodded. "I was particularly impressed by your aggressive pursuit of the one called Vince. You showed a rare level of tenacity and viciousness. And the moment when you threw a proximity mine into his path when he tried to retreat shows that you have a gift for tactical thinking."

Sierra smiled. "Thanks. I have to admit, that was one of my most favorite moments of the whole night."

"It gives me reason to believe you could be a worthy addition to the mission."

"Oh, wow. Thanks." Sierra's smile turned wistful. "I've actually been thinking about it, but my parents would never let me go."

"Well," Jensen said, "you might think about going through the training program just to see how it turns out. Even if you don't go on the mission, you'd still learn a lot of useful stuff that could be applied to any number of careers on Earth."

"Hmm. I might just do that."

"Because Smokescreen is going, right?" Miko winked at her.

"That's … uh, he's … _one_ of the reasons I'm thinking about it. But there are others." Sierra picked up her bottle of water and sipped.

"Regarding the combat simulation," Strika said, "I am curious about one thing. Vince demanded sex from you after you attacked him so relentlessly. Is that a typical human mating ritual?"

"What?" Sierra gaped at her. "No, not even close. I went after him like that because I fucking _hate_ him. He's a bully. He's spent years picking on my friends for no reason other than making himself feel powerful. What I did was revenge, though it was only a video game." She sighed. "I guess part of it might be guilt, since I didn't even notice his bullying until recently. I just needed to show him how it feels. I honestly wish I could beat the shit out of him in real life, though."

"Ah. Then I apologize for the misunderstanding. His exact words were, 'fuck me.' I assumed it was an example of the 'belligerent sexual tension' concept I've heard about."

Jensen had started to take a sip of his coffee, but had to put the cup back down until he stopped laughing. "That's, uh, not what that phrase means."

"What does it mean, then? It seems to clearly be a demand for copulation."

"Its meaning varies depending on context. Sometimes it's an expression of surprise or shock. Sometimes disgust. In this case, I'm pretty sure it was anger."

"More like rage," Miko said with a laugh. " _Impotent_ rage."

"Hmm." Strika shook her head slowly. "That makes no sense."

"Yeah. Well." Jensen shrugged, grinned, picked up his coffee, and raised the cup as if making a toast. "Welcome to Earth."

* * *

"This isn't over," Camille grumbled on the way to the gate, and Miko rolled her eyes.

"Shocking. Absolutely shocking." She glanced around at the rest of her parents. She could tell Roderick was slowly being won over, but he seemed reluctant to clash head-on with Camille. The same could be said of Miko's mother, who'd actually beamed with pride several times while watching her training sessions and sparring matches. Her dad, on the other hand, hadn't budged an inch, so she'd find no help there.

 _He sure hasn't changed at all._ He'd always run a tight ship back in Japan, to the point where Miko had felt as if she were being suffocated every moment of every day. Discovering the level of freedom she had after the student exchange program led her to Jasper, Nevada, had felt like she was finally able to live, rather than merely exist.

And then the months after she'd been caught up in the last gasp of the Cybertronian civil war, playing out right here on Earth … at first, she'd jumped right into it because giant alien robots fighting each other was fucking awesome. She hadn't truly learned what was at stake, and how much danger she was in, for months afterward, despite a number of close calls. But then, less than a month ago, when a device created by those giant alien robots _sawed her right arm off_ …

That was the moment it had finally sunk in. The robotic arm she had now was pretty goddamn sweet, sure, but she could've _so_ easily bled out right there in the snow. Or if that giant worm-like robot had sunk its teeth into her neck or her chest instead of just her upper arm, she would've fucking _died_.

As thick-skulled as she'd been before, there was no way she could've ignored that. Even without the nightmares she'd been having ever since, which she absolutely _refused_ to tell her parents about.

 _I have to see this through._ Maybe to prove to them that she could handle it, maybe to prove it to herself. Or maybe because going back home and trying to stay safe would be the same as letting those bastards win. Or maybe just to make the Decepticons _pay_. They'd almost killed her and her friends so many times, taken the lives of innocent bystanders and good people like Jared, whom Airachnid had murdered right in front of the whole squad, and one of their monstrosities had taken Miko's arm off. If nothing else, she wanted to show them just what a terrible mistake _that_ was.

And her own parents were trying to take all of that away from her.

 _Sure, they want me to be safe, but I can't leave my friends, and I can't go back to the way things were back then. I'll die inside if I'm stuck in that kind of life again._

"Hey, Miko." Raf's voice jolted her out of her thoughts and she glanced around to find herself almost at the gate. Raf and his huge family were there, as well as Rosalina and Lucas and their adopted son Bobby. Raf wore the latest version of his armor and held his helmet under one arm, and his brothers and sisters grinned and kept asking him questions about it. Even his parents looked thrilled. Maybe they didn't fully understand the kind of danger he was in, or maybe they saw that he was in a position to help prevent the Decepticons and Unicron from destroying the whole world. No matter why, at least they seemed to be supporting him.

"Hey, Raf," Miko said. "Roz, Lucas. Bobby, how ya doin'?"

"I don't wanna leave again." Bobby pouted and Roz knelt in front of him and brushed his hair out of his eyes.

"I know, honey, but you won't be far away. The other Pretenders and I still can't leave the base." She gave him a hug. "You need to keep going to school. Daddy will bring you back here next weekend."

"I can't wait!"

"Neither can I, kiddo." She kissed him on the cheek, ruffled his hair, and stood. "Sorry I still can't go with you, Lucas."

"So am I, but I know it's for a good cause. Now that they've started to trust you and your friends and the defectors, you don't want to do anything to jeopardize that." He smiled and held her hands. "Keep at it and they'll let you come back with us before you know it."

"I sure hope so." She embraced him and they kissed. "Well, I guess you shouldn't keep the bus driver waiting." She hugged Bobby one more time. "Remember to do your homework and eat your vegetables every day."

"Yeah, yeah." Bobby let out an exaggerated sigh. Lucas prodded his shoulder.

"Cheer up. School's a lot better now that the bullies have stopped picking on you."

"Yeah!" Bobby grinned as Lucas took his hand and led him toward the bus, both of them pausing in the doorway to wave at Roz again.

Miko laughed softly and glanced up at her parents. "He had a hard time in school until he showed the other kids a few photos of his mom in her robot form. I'm guessing those glowing red eyes scared the piss out of 'em. None of 'em have even glanced in his general direction since that day."

"Yeah," Roderick said, "That'd do it for me, too."

Miko watched them for a few seconds and held in a sigh. _I guess I should try to play nice with them. Maybe they'll ease up a little._

"You wouldn't have to spend so many hours on a bus if you'd stay in the guest quarters here."

"The less I have to do with anything going on here," Camille said, "the better. I just wish you weren't so pig-headed about staying." She glanced at Roderick. "I don't know why we don't just drag her onto the bus ourselves."

Before Miko could tell her to try it and see what happened, Roderick let out a sharp sigh.

"That wouldn't be right. You've seen how much she wants to stay. If we tried that, she'd hate all of us." He chuckled and tried to lighten the mood. "Besides, she could kick our asses."

Miko took a slow breath and motioned at the bus. "Well, like Roz said, we're keeping the driver waiting." She glanced over at Raf and saw his siblings filing into the bus. As his parents hugged him and turned to get in, Raf seemed to notice something off to the left. He frowned and stared for a few seconds, then he put his helmet on and sealed it.

"Guys, the guard in the booth just slumped against the wall and dropped out of sight."

Miko spun toward the booth between the entrance and exit gates, squinted, and found it empty. She nodded toward her parents and motioned at the buildings behind them.

"Get back inside. Something's going down."

"Not without you," her mother said, reaching toward her as she started to back away.

"Raf and I have this. You need to get out of here and warn the others." She crept toward the bus.

Raf tapped a button on the control panel on his belt. "Buddy, check the guard booth. He just disappeared. Looked like he collapsed."

Miko glanced into the bus and saw the driver raise a hand to his earpiece, turn toward the booth, and open his mouth.

Movement outside the gate caught Miko's attention - men in desert camo and masks covering their faces swarming onto the base.

"Get inside," Miko snapped. " _Now_!" She turned to Raf and said, "Fade!"

He tapped another button and his armor rippled and vanished.

"Bobby," Roz whispered as her optics opened wider. "Lucas …"

 _I shouldn't have taken my armor off. Its active camouflage sure would've helped right about now._ Miko's heart pounded as she rushed toward the rear of the bus. The only advantage she had now was her cybernetic arm. She couldn't lift heavy objects without tearing the arm off, but she could sure as hell crush things and punch these guys into next week.

One of the camo-clad men jumped into the bus, aimed a rifle at the driver, and dragged him out onto the pavement. He jammed his gun against the driver's head and the driver raised his hands slowly.

The rest of the invaders planted themselves between the bus and Miko and aimed their guns at her and her parents. One of them stepped forward and pointed at Miko.

"You." His voice was deep and had a thick Russian accent. "Get in with the rest of the hostages."

"Alright." Miko held her hands up. "Just don't hurt anyone." She trudged forward, making sure to pass within arm's reach of the guy who'd just spoken. In the corner of her eye, Rosalina glared at the men in front of the bus and shook as if she were barely holding herself back.

When she got close enough, Miko lashed out and crashed her metal fist into the side of the Russian dude's head. He grunted and staggered away. Before he could recover, she clamped her hand over his, pinning it against his weapon, and _squeezed_. He groaned and snarled, but managed to pull her off-balance.

Past him, Roz charged the nearest man, tackled him, and stabbed her sharp fingertips into his gut. He doubled over with a shrill scream, clutched at his abdomen, and collapsed. She pulled her fingers out and blood splattered the ground before she moved on to the next man. The rest of them turned their guns on her.

The air behind the one on the far right rippled, followed a split-second later by a sound like a bug zapper. The man convulsed and groaned through clenched teeth for several seconds before crumpling to the ground.

The Russian threw himself forward and slammed his rifle into Miko's face. The sudden pain almost blacked her out, but somehow she kept her grip on his hand. She recovered and found herself kind of hanging from his arm. She braced her other hand against the blacktop and pushed herself up.

Roz freight-trained into another intruder and plowed him into the side of the bus hard enough to scoot it sideways a few inches. He plopped to the ground like his strings had been cut.

Miko regained her balance and tried to ram her knee into the leader's balls. He blocked her with a casual flick of his arm, then he cocked his fist back and drove it into her gut. The air rushed from her lungs and she couldn't draw another breath. She finally released her grip on him and fell to her knees, doubled over, and tears filled her eyes.

An incoherent shout came from off to the left and she glanced up to find her dad charging him. She tried to shake her head, but from the corner of her eye she saw the Russian flip his rifle over, raise it, and snap its stock into the side of her head. Everything turned white and she slumped over.

Her dad screamed again and she forced her eyes open. He landed nearby, blood pouring from his nose. She tried to pick herself up, but everything blurred and spun around her. Something hard hit her back, and through the fog in her head she realized it was the blacktop. She'd fallen again and rolled onto her back. Everything started to fade away.

"Enough!" the Russian barked, and Miko managed to open her eyes again. One of his men had dragged a kid off the bus and pushed him to the ground in front of the boss. A man in the bus lunged at the door, but another of the masked goons punched him in the face and shoved him back inside.

 _Oh, shit … Bobby …_

The boss turned, held his gun to the bus driver's head, and pulled the trigger. The sharp _bang_ made Miko twitch and suck in a deep breath as the driver collapsed.

"Get your hands off him," Rosalina shrieked. "You hurt him and I will fucking kill you! _Slowly_!"

The man jammed his gun against Bobby's head. "Ah-ah. One more step and your 'son' will need a closed-casket funeral. And then your husband will be next."

Roz stopped, clenched her fists, and trembled. Her red optics remained locked on to him as if she were trying to kill him with her glare.

Bobby sobbed and tried to crawl away. The Russian grabbed his shirt with his free hand and picked him up. Bobby burst into tears.

"You're gonna be okay, Bobby! It's gonna be okay!" Roz lurched backward, clearly struggling with everything in her to stop herself from charging the man. "Try to be brave. I need you to be there for Daddy, okay? Stay with him and just wait for us. We'll bring you home safe, I promise!"

The asshole kept his gun pointed at Bobby's head as he backed toward the bus. "If _anyone_ follows us, this brat will be the first to go. I'll send him back to you in pieces."

Roz kept backing away, holding her hands up and shaking her head. "Alright, alright! Just don't hurt any of them!"

He nodded at his men and several of them darted forward, grabbed Miko and her dad, and shoved them into the bus. One of them followed their leader into it, and the rest ran back through the gate. Miko glanced through the windshield and spotted a half-dozen vehicles with guns mounted on them waiting in the distance.

"Go," the leader said, and the driver started the engine.

Miko dropped herself into one of the seats as the bus accelerated toward the waiting vehicles. She finally managed to take a few slow, painful breaths, and glared at him.

"Why are you doing this, you cocksucker?"

"This base has something I want. You're going to help us get it back."

"And what would that be?"

"Three things, actually." He leaned against the back of the driver's seat and kept his rifle pointed in her general direction. "Jackson Darby. Arcee. And Silas."


	2. Chapter 2

_Two whole weeks without a crisis, and now look what's happened._ Arcee piloted her human-size body into the briefing room and stepped aside so Jack and June could follow her. She glanced around at Ashanti and her whole team, even Jensen with his broken leg, seated at the table. General Sanchez sat at the far end of the room, with a general in a Russian uniform seated to his left. Rosalina, Miko's mother, and her host-parents sat at the near end of the table. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Tomoko stood in the corner to Arcee's left.

Arcee walked over to them. "How're you guys holding up?"

"Not very well," Bulk said. "I know Miko's a tough kid and she knows how to take care of herself, but …"

"You can't help worrying anyway." Arcee nodded over at Jack. "I've been there too many times, myself."

"I'm just relieved that Raf is staying hidden," Bee said. "He wasn't abducted, and he's in a position to help rescue the others, but I just hope he can stay out of the actual fighting when it starts. He's too young and inexperienced to do anything except feed us intel."

"I just want him back." Tomoko hugged her Catbug plushie and stared at the floor. "All the others, too, but especially Raf." She raised her optics to meet Arcee's gaze. "Whatever you're going to do to save them, I want in."

"We'll bring you along, I promise. Those web-shooters of yours will be a huge help." Not knowing what else to say, she patted the guys' shoulders, gave Tomoko a hug, walked back to Jack, and held his hand as she took another quick look around the room.

Roz was slumped over the conference table, propping herself up on one elbow and dabbing at her eyes with a tissue while sobbing. June had leaned over to put an arm around her shoulders. She glanced up, patted June's hand, and tried to smile.

"Huh," Camille muttered. "Never thought I'd see a robot cry."

Jensen flicked an irritated glance at her. "They were built to mimic humans and other organic species. That includes things like tears."

Roderick laid his hand over Camille's and leaned over to whisper to her. "Her husband and son were just abducted right in front of her, so would you _please_ keep your mouth under control?"

Footsteps in the hallway caught Arcee's attention and she turned back to the door as Optimus, Elita-1, and Strika's brand new Pretender bodies entered the room.

"Thank you for joining us," Sanchez said. He turned to Jack, Arcee, and June. "You, especially. As you'll see in a moment, you need to be in the loop." He nodded at the other general. "This is General Dmitri Volkov. Since some of his people are going to be on the crew of our new ship, he was here for a look at its construction."

"I heard what happened," Volkov said. "When I learned who was responsible for this attack on Groom Lake … well, I'm afraid he was once one of ours before he went rogue over a decade ago."

"Luckily for us, Raf was showing his armor off to his family," Sanchez said. "He used its stealth system to avoid detection and hitched a ride on the bus when it left. He sent some video and audio recordings, but had to stop when one of the men on the bus said he was going to run a continuous scan for outgoing signals, just in case any of the hostages tried to make a phone call. Raf cut all transmissions, including his GPS tracker. We won't know anything else unless he can get a message out later."

"Using _kids_ to -"

"Damn it, Camille, would you _please_ give it a rest?" Roderick shook his head. "That kid's whole family was taken. He had the armor for protection in case he got caught up in another fight, and now he's putting it to good use. If I were him, _I_ sure as hell wouldn't just stand there and let it happen if there was _anything_ I could do about it."

"Raf doesn't like getting directly involved in a fight," Jack said. "But he has a chance to slip us a little information, and that'll help us track the hostages down and bring them home safe."

"We went over the recordings he sent," Kefira Ben-Ari said. "I recognized the team leader's voice. I ran into him a couple of times, back in my Mossad days, and a few more times after I went freelance."

"We ran a voice print analysis just to be certain," Sanchez said. He picked up a tablet resting on the table and tapped its screen. The large monitor on the wall behind him came to life and displayed a dossier. The man in the photo in the upper-left corner had several scars on his face and a gleam in his eyes that made him look about two quarts low. "Got a one-hundred-percent match. His name is Kazimir Sokolov. He's former Spetsnaz. Became a hired gun thirteen years ago, and now it seems he's joined MECH."

"What?" Jack gaped at him. "I thought they were pretty much out of business ever since Silas was locked up."

"Looks like there's still a few of them left, enough to cause trouble."

"Wait a minute." Camille leaned forward and swept her scowl over everyone. "What the hell is MECH? And who is Silas?"

"MECH is a terrorist organization," Optimus said. "In our past encounters with them, they attempted to acquire Cybertronian technology, though their goal remains unclear."

"Silas is their leader," Jack added and motioned at Ashanti. "Colonel McKenna's team took him into custody in our last run-in with them."

"His real name is Leland Bishop," Sanchez said. "Formerly _Colonel_ Leland Bishop. He was in Special Ops until he got a dishonorable discharge. After that, he either joined MECH or started it, we're not sure which. Getting information out of him has been a real pain in the ass. And as Optimus said, we don't know what MECH's endgame is, but they've been determined to get their hands on advanced technology by any means necessary."

"First time we ran into him, he made a little speech about the war brewing between the new world order and the _newer_ one, whatever the hell that means."

"Last time we fought them, they were working with Airachnid and wanted to dissect me." Arcee shook her head and sneered. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's what this is about, at least partly."

Sanchez nodded. "Just before the meeting started, we got a message from Sokolov. He's demanding that we release Silas and hand over Jack and Arcee, or he'll start executing the hostages."

"Beginning with my son," Roz whispered.

"We won't let that happen. We can't give in to their demands, either, so we'll have to find a third option."

"If there's anything I can do," Volkov said, "just ask. As I said, this … person … was once on my 'team.' I've got my contacts back home tracking down his family, friends, former coworkers, _anyone_ who's assisted him or owes him a favor, anyone he might seek out for help. We will leave _no_ ground for him to go to."

"Thank you, General."

June stared at both of them. "Would this guy really hurt children?"

"Absolutely," Kefira said. "Like I mentioned a moment ago, I've run into him a few times. He _has_ killed children before."

"I've gone over the dossier we have on him," Volkov added. "The man is _evil_. Not in a supernatural sense, of course. He's just …"

"Sounds like he's just fucked in the head," Jensen said.

"Completely. If you get a clear shot at him, I suggest you take it."

"Sounds good to me." Arcee turned to Sanchez. "Do we have anything else?"

"During the attack, Rosalina killed two of Sokolov's men, and someone with armor equipped with a stealth system took another down. I'm assuming it was Raf. The man survived, and he's in one of our cells. He's not telling us anything, because he knows there's only so much we can do. There are lines we can't cross. We're trying to come up with something that'll actually work, but Sokolov gave us only twenty-four hours to comply with his demands."

"I have an idea," June said, and everyone turned to stare at her. She shook her head slowly, leaned over, and braced her clenched fists on the table. "This sonofabitch is doing this just so he can get his hands on _my son_ and his girlfriend. You know what? I've fucking had _enough_ of people trying to hurt them. I want in on this."

Sanchez stared at her with a raised eyebrow. Several seconds passed before he said, "What do you have in mind?"

She looked him directly in the eye and said, "Let me question him."

* * *

"You sure you want to do this?" Ashanti rested a hand on June's shoulder as they walked toward the room that would be used as mission control. June's heart pounded and she took a few slow breaths, but finally nodded.

"Yeah. Like I said, I'm sick of all these bastards trying to hurt my son. If there's any way to put a stop to it once and for all, I want to go all-in on it."

"Okay. We'll need to hurry. We've already spent a few hours coming up with the plan and setting up your cover identity."

"I've been studying the notes Kefira came up with. I'm an assassin who's had cosmetic surgery and changed her name multiple times, and June Darby was just the latest false identity. I decided to retire when my son was born, but now that MECH is threatening him, I'm back in business."

"Exactly. We're only trying this because nothing else has worked on McClory. We'll give you every advantage we can. You'll have an earbud so we can talk to you, and we'll give you contact lenses so you'll have a heads-up display. You'll be wearing your armor, so your strength will be boosted, in case you need to fight him off. If McClory questions it, just tell him the armor will be put in lockdown to immobilize you if you try anything - much safer for us than putting you in handcuffs. It'll be one more little detail to help convince him that you're dangerous. And Roz will be linked to your armor, so she'll be able to take control if you get in over your head. You've never had any combat training, but she's known how to fight for _centuries_. If she takes over, just go limp and let her do the fighting."

"I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm glad to have her backing me up if I can't talk my way out of a fight."

"Do whatever you can to get him to tell us where the hostages were taken. If he won't give up the info, we'll have to stage an escape. We'll direct you to a specific armory on the way out so you can grab a gun and your helmet. The armory will be stocked with standard ammo so you won't be able to harm any Cybertronians. A bunch of Roz's Pretender friends will be disguised as guards and other base personnel, so you can 'take them out' to get to the armory and then off the base. We hoping that, if you break McClory out, you can convince him to take you to where Sokolov's keeping the hostages." They reached the final door and Ashanti paused. "One last time, are you _sure_ about this? You may have to seriously violate your Hippocratic oath to get him to cooperate."

June took another slow, shaky breath. "I think so, yeah."

"This was your idea, so you need to be able to follow it through."

"Yeah, I can do it. Hell, these people want to kill my son, maybe even torture or experiment on him first. I can live with myself if I have to rough them up a little."

"Good, because once you go into that cell, we're pot-committed. If we have to pull you out of there, the op's blown."

"I'll do what I have to do."

Ashanti nodded, opened the door, and waved her inside. She stepped through and found Jensen, Kefira, and Rosalina at a control panel with a half-dozen monitors above it. Kefira glanced up at her and motioned at a young man on the lower-right monitor.

"That's Bodhi McClory. I won't waste time going over his entire service record, but he's been through a lot of shit. Imprisoned, tortured, and so on. He's done a lot of horrible shit to people, too. He won't scare easily." She turned and locked eyes with June. "Part of your cover is that you're insane. Not cackling insane or anything like that, but unbalanced enough to kill someone just for shits and giggles. You'll have to make this guy's skin crawl the instant you enter that cell, and keep him off balance the entire time you're together. We need him to believe you might shoot him in the crotch and then giggle while he bleeds out just because the voices in your head told you to. And if you can't convince him that you're genuine, it's over. If he sniffs you out, we'll never get another shot at this."

June took a few more shaky breaths and nodded. "Let's get started."

* * *

"I don't know about this," Jack muttered. He and Arcee had walked into the control room just as his mom appeared on one of the monitors, entering McClory's cell. McClory was sprawled on his mattress, unconscious. June stood in the center of the room and stared at him.

Ashanti shrugged. "I've seen seasoned soldiers fold like a bad poker hand under the right kind of pressure, and I've seen civilians who'd never been anywhere near a gun remain completely calm in the middle of a firefight. I guess we'll see."

Arcee put her arm around Jack's shoulders. "Don't worry, if it starts to go south, we'll get her out of there and try to come up with something else. If we're lucky, Raf will have a chance to send us a message."

Kefira motioned at the monitor. "We sedated him before letting your mom in. When he wakes up, it'll be like she just appeared there."

"Should be any moment now," Jensen added.

Kefira spoke into her earpiece mic. "June, can you hear us?"

Without moving her right arm, June clenched her fist and extended her thumb, then relaxed again.

Jack stepped closer to the screen, watched, and tried not to hold his breath.

June approached McClory, crouched over him, and waited. She didn't move even a fraction of an inch as several more minutes passed. Finally, McClory stirred, groaned, opened and closed his eyes a few times, and finally seemed to notice June. He jerked back and let out a startled grunt.

June leaned closer abruptly, sniffed him, and smiled. "You smell different when you're awake."

" _Whoa_!" Jensen scooted his chair back and shuddered. "That was _fucked-up_!"

"Yeah. If I had skin, it'd definitely be crawling now." Arcee glanced at Jack. "Looks like your mom's really throwing herself into this."

"What …?" McClory glanced around and back to June. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Well, I used to be June Darby. Until the people here found out who I really am, that is." She shrugged and let out a quick giggle. "They had to take me down with a tranquilizer dart because they didn't want to get anywhere near me. Stuck me in my own armor because they can lock it down and immobilize me if I make them too nervous." She lunged toward him and he flinched. She whispered, "Or, they could _if_ I hadn't persuaded a hacker on the base to disable that function."

"Uh-huh." McClory scooted back against the wall and then leaned against it, trying to appear casual.

"His breathing is a little uneven," Kefira whispered. "You're getting under his skin already."

"How'd you manage that?" McClory narrowed his eyes at her and looked her over slowly.

"Once I slept with him a few times, he was willing to do _anything_ for me." June smirked. "Nice guy, but way too easy to manipulate. I'm sure I can get him to unlock a few doors if I can get in touch with him."

"I'll play the hacker for you," Jensen said. "When it's time, just pretend to contact him on your armor's radio. I'll provide the voice while Kefira and Roz work their magic."

"Okay," June muttered, and Jack's heart nearly leaped into his throat.

"No! Don't talk to us!"

"What?" McClory scowled at her. "Okay, what? Who are you talking to?"

"The voices." June opened her eyes wide and a beatific smile spread slowly across her face. "It's such a shame you can't hear them. They're _beautiful_. They sing my victims to sleep."

Arcee turned slowly to stare at Jack with her mouth hanging open. "I didn't know she had that in her."

"Neither did I." Jack shivered. "Her coming up with these so quickly is _disturbing_."

"Damn good recovery, though." Jensen slumped over the console and let out a long sigh.

"Uh-huh," McClory muttered, his own eyes opening wider. He shifted slightly, as if starting to scoot along the wall to get away from her and then forcing himself not to.

"Good job," Kefira said. "You're really making him squirm. Keep it up."

"In fact," June said softly as she glanced at the door, "I bet I could get us both out of here if I can contact him."

"Shh!" McClory pointed at something outside the camera's range. "Brilliant, tell them how you plan to escape!"

"What's he pointing at?" Jack glanced back and forth from Jensen to Kefira.

"The big camera, the one we wanted him to see. We're watching on a pinhole camera."

June jumped up, rushed over to the far corner, hopped up, grabbed something, and ripped it out of the wall. She returned to McClory with the standard security camera in her right hand. She tossed it over her shoulder, plopped onto the mattress beside him, and put her arm around his shoulders.

"There. Problem solved."

McClory tried to push away from her, but the servos in her armor allowed her to hold him in place.

"Good," Kefira said. "One of the best ways to make someone uncomfortable is to invade their personal space."

"Hey, I recognize you," June said. "Spotted you when they dragged your unconscious ass in here from the gate. I heard someone invaded the base and kidnapped a bunch of kids and civilians because they wanted a shot at my son and his girlfriend. Have you ever been raped?"

"Wh - _what_?" McClory gaped at her.

"What the _fuck_ , Mom?" Jack recoiled from the screen.

"Hah." Jensen grinned. "She totally stole that from _Firefly_."

Kefira shrugged. "As long as it scares this bastard, it's good enough for me."

"Sometimes I like to have a little fun with my targets before I finish them off," June said. "There was this one guy. I took a toilet plunger and -"

"I don't need to hear it," McClory snapped. He tried to slip away from her again, and she yanked him right back.

"Tell ya what. You tell me where those kids were taken, and maybe I'll control my … _urges_."

"Why do - uh, urges?" He shook his head. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Haven't you been listening?" She knocked on his forehead. "Hello? I _said_ , they came after my son. I have a score to settle with them."

"Forget it. I'm not telling anybody _anything_."

"Well, in that case …" She suddenly shoved him face down and pinned him to the mattress. "Y'know, if I rip that toilet out of the wall, I bet I can find a pipe the right size to -"

"Get off me!" McClory tried to writhe out from under her, but her armor-enhanced strength kept him from budging.

"Oh, no, sorry, you're one of the idiots who thought coming after _my son_ was a good idea." She yanked his arms around behind him until his elbows met, and he clenched his teeth around a groan. "I'm just getting started with you."

"June, try not to carry it too far." Ashanti smirked. "I can understand why you want to tear him apart, but we have rules we've got to follow."

"She wouldn't take it any farther," Kefira said. "She's not that kind of person. But this is a good way to show him that she can overpower him quite easily."

"Tell me where the hostages were taken," June hissed into McClory's ear.

"Fuck you!"

" _Wrong_ answer." June braced her left hand on his right shoulder and slowly pulled and twisted his arm.

"Uh, June," Kefira said - then raised an eyebrow when a snapping sound came from the speakers, followed by a grating snarl as McClory clamped his mouth shut to stop himself from screaming. "Never mind."

"Mom, seriously, what the actual _fuck_?" Jack stared at the screen and shook his head slowly.

Kefira shrugged. "Well, she's pissed off."

"Don't worry," June said, "it's only dislocated, not broken. I'll pop it back in for you if you tell me where the hostages were taken."

"Go … fu-"

June hopped off him for a split second - then she sat on him, directly on his shoulder, her armor digging into him and her weight crushing his face into the mattress. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

"Fine, have it your way."

His other arm flailed around and tried to push her off. All he managed was to slap his hand against her armor a few times.

"Uh, Mom?" Jack leaned closer to the screen. "You might want to try something else before you suffocate him."

She leaped back to her feet and McClory sucked in a deep, ragged breath.

"Now that I think about it, you didn't do that much during the attack. It's all the others I want." She clamped her hand onto the back of his neck and gradually applied more pressure as she spoke. "Agree to take me to them, and I'll bring you with me when I break out of here."

"What do you want with them?"

"Not very good a this whole 'thinking' thing, are you?" June squeezed a little harder and McClory grimaced and tried to pry her fingers off. "Those assholes came after my son. What the hell do you _think_ I want with them?" She clamped her other hand onto his chin and turned his head to glare directly into his eyes. "I'm gonna kill them all. But if you help me out, I'll let you go. It's the one giving the orders that I'm most interested in. He's the one I'm going to take my _sweet goddamn time_ killing."

"Interesting," Kefira said. "Telling him that she wants to join them might make him suspicious, but he probably wasn't expecting her to say _that_. Should keep him a little off-balance while we set up the prison break."

"Alright, _alright_! Just stop crushing my neck!" When she released him, he slumped forward, took a few rasping breaths, and raised his hand to his injured shoulder. "Fine. Get me out of here and I'll take you our base. That's where the hostages were taken."

"On to phase two, then." Ashanti glanced over at Rosalina. "Tell your friends to get into position. It's showtime."


	3. Chapter 3

_What the hell am I doing?_ June kept scowling at the door to keep from looking as terrified as she really was. _Seriously, how the hell was this_ my _idea?_

"Almost there," Jensen said, raising the pitch of his voice to sound much younger, having apparently gotten the idea into his head that "hacker" meant "teenager."

"You better hope this kid knows what he's doing," McClory grumbled.

"There are two guards right outside the door, one on either side. And I heard that, you dick. For your information …"

The lock clicked. At the same moment, a text message from Rosalina appeared in June's heads-up display.

 _I'm going to take control of your armor for a moment. The guards and everyone else between you and the base exit are Pretenders. This whole fight will be staged for McClory's benefit, so don't worry about hurting them. They'll be just playing dead._

June's armor shifted its posture slightly, seemingly moving on its own, and June let her body go limp to avoid injuring herself.

"Bam," Jensen said.

June smirked at McClory as the door slid aside. Roz piloted her armor into the corridor and lunged to the right. June caught a glimpse of an airman opening his eyes wide in shock just before her arms clamped around his head and twisted. A crunching sound seemed to come from his open mouth and he turned ragdoll in her arms. Roz let him fall to the floor, mouth gaping and eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

Another text popped up as Roz spun June's armor around to face the other guard. _Remember, he's okay. I'm gonna pretend to kill the other one now._

He tried to draw his gun, but Roz tackled him to the floor, punched him, and then clamped June's right hand over his mouth. She moved June's other hand to his face and pinched his nose shut. His eyes widened and he flailed, grabbed her wrists and tried to pry her hands off, and then braced his hands on her chest and shoved. Roz kept June's hands in place and he went into convulsions.

Another text appeared, this one in green instead of Rosalina's white. _Uh, June, I have to apologize for groping your tits. It was accidental, I swear._

Roz's reply blipped up a split-second later. _Sure it was, Clayton._

June burst out laughing. At the same instant, Clayton shuddered and stopped moving, and June's heart twitched.

"Oh, the timing on that was _perfect_ ," Kefira said, her voice coming through June's earbud, sounding as if she were trying to suppress her own laughter. "Good show, Clay. That should _really_ shake McClory up."

June remained on top of Clay for a moment, as if admiring her handiwork. "Too bad. He was kinda cute." She leaned over abruptly and kissed him.

 _Okay, what the hell? That was something Airachnid did to some of her victims._ June realized Roz had released control of her armor and got back to her feet. _I'm gonna need a psychiatric evaluation when this is over._

"Jesus _Christ_ ," McClory said under his breath, and June glanced over her shoulder to find him staring uneasily at her. Some of the color had drained from his face and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

 _Well, that fucked up his feng-shui, alright._ She grinned, clapped McClory roughly on his still-dislocated shoulder, and spoke to the "hacker" over her suit radio.

"Okay, kid, next stop, the armory!"

* * *

"Holy … shit." Roderick gaped at the bank of monitors that had just shown him the staged fight in the corridor outside McClory's cell.

 _Heh._ Khalilah glanced around the small lounge. Miko's mother and both host parents had been invited to watch the operation via cameras hidden in the corridors along the path June was going to take, probably to reassure them that swift action was being taken. Khalilah had joined them to keep an eye on her new friends until the rescue-mission phase started. Strika had shown up as well, perhaps out of curiosity to see how the humans, Autobots, and Pretenders handled the situation.

"That was disturbing," Camille muttered, and Roderick sighed.

"It's part of the plan. You know that."

"Yeah, but it's still creepy. If they hadn't let us see those text messages, I would've thought she really killed those guys."

"That is precisely the effect they were going for, I believe," Strika said. "Keeping McClory constantly off-balance is essential to the success of the mission. If he stops feeling unsettled long enough to think rationally, he may be able to figure out what we're attempting."

"June will just have to keep at it, then," Ashanti said over the comm system. "Jensen, Roz, Jack, Arcee, keep an eye on things here. Kefira and I need to gear up and be ready to follow them."

"She's doing a hell of a job of it," Roderick said as another camera picked June and McClory up. On the camera outside McClory's cell, the two "dead" airmen sat up, laughed, and high-fived each other. Both of them transformed back into their robot forms.

"So," the first one said, "groping June's chest was totally an accident, eh?"

"Well, I had to look like I was trying to push her off me. It's just a shame she had that armor covering her -"

"That's my mom you're talking about," Jack said.

"Hey, no offense intended. I just think she's hot." He grinned suddenly. "And she said I'm cute. _And_ she kissed me!"

"They've reached the armory," Arcee cut in before the conversation could go any farther.

Another text from Rosalina appeared. _If you pretend to knock the guards out instead of kill them, I'm guessing McClory will want to put a bullet in them once you've raided the armory. The ammo in there won't be able to hurt them, so don't try to stop him. In fact, you might want to pop 'em first. They can mimic gunshot wounds the same way we mimic human bodies._

On the camera outside the armory, June and McClory stepped into view.

 _I'm taking control of your armor again,_ Roz texted. _We'll put on another show for McClory._

Footsteps in the hallway distracted Khalilah as another staged fight began. She glanced over her shoulder and found Sierra entering the lounge. The girl glanced around, seemed to decide against sitting on the sofa with Miko's host parents, and walked over to stand beside the armchair occupied by Miko's mother.

"Smokescreen's joining the rescue team," Sierra said. "I just saw him off. Have I missed anything?"

"Quite a bit, actually," Roderick said. "Jack's mom is kinda terrifying."

"I hope this is being recorded so I can catch up on it later."

"It is." Khalilah nodded. "Strategic analysts will probably go over it later, as well."

"Jack and I should be going with the team," Arcee said. "I can't stand being sidelined when our friends' lives are at stake."

"That would be tactically unwise," Strika said. "You and Mr. Darby are two of MECH's mission objectives. The smart thing to do is to keep both of you out of their reach. If they capture you, they'll have less reason to keep the hostages alive."

"I know. That doesn't make this any easier."

"Also, all other Cybertronians joining the operation should exercise extreme caution. MECH may have targeted you specifically, but they've attempted to acquire Cybertronian technology before, and any of you would suit their needs just as well as Arcee."

"That was one of my concerns as well. Optimus is keeping it in mind, but he knows our friends and those innocent people are worth the risk." Arcee sighed. "Which is another reason I don't feel right about staying here when they're putting themselves on the line."

Khalilah turned back to the screen in time to see the last guard collapse. As June turned to the door, Jensen's voice came through the speakers.

"While you were kickin' ass, I unlocked the door for ya. You're welcome."

June pulled the door open and disappeared inside. She returned a few seconds later with a gun on her hip, spare magazines on her utility belt, more stuff jammed into her belt pouch, and her helmet under her left arm.

"Help yourself." June watched him dart into armory and reappear with two assault rifles slung over his shoulders and extra ammo stuffed into his pockets. June crouched beside one of the guards and searched his pockets. She found his wallet, took the cash out, shoved it into one of her belt pouches, and flung the wallet over her shoulder. "In case we need to buy gas on the way to your base."

McClory searched another guard, took his cash, and then found his phone. He pocketed it and raised an eyebrow at June.

"Now we get out of here. Which way?"

 _I'm highlighting the route in your HUD,_ Roz texted.

June pointed casually at the corridor to the left. She found her guard's phone, swiped it, and then drew her gun. She popped two rounds into each guard's chest and strolled down the hall. She glanced at the phone before slipping it into a pouch.

"I wonder what kind of porn he has on this?" She started whistling a tune that sounded like it might be an Irish folk song as she walked.

McClory aimed another uneasy look at her before catching up.

"Grabbing those phones isn't too bright," Jack said. "Those can be tracked."

"He's probably planning to use it to verify Ms. Darby's cover identity," Strika said, "then throw the phone away before they travel very far."

"Once they're clear of the base," Ashanti said, "we'll follow at a discrete distance."

Optimus joined the conversation. "Colonel, how do you want us deployed?"

"Everyone should stay in their vehicle modes until we find the hostages' location. Tomoko, have you picked one out yet?"

"Yeah, I scanned a really cool helicopter on the base. I'm ready to go."

"Good. Send your Pretender body along, too. Your web-shooters will give us an option to neutralize MECH troops without resorting to lethal force. I'll ride with your mini-me in Optimus. Kefira, you and Terwilliger are in Bumblebee. Jo and DeeDee, you're in Ultra Magnus. Smokescreen will come along to give June, Miko, and Raf a lift. Then we'll just need someone big enough to hold the rest of the hostages in case the bus isn't available anymore."

"I will join you, then," Strika said. "I have recently chosen a vehicle mode that will accommodate everyone. It was inspired by the combat simulation videos I've been reviewing. If I'm not mistaken, the vehicle is called a Cargobob."

"That'll work just fine. Thanks for helping out."

"It is a good opportunity to see the rescue operation up close."

"Okay, everyone, let's get this done."

* * *

"Looks like they're stopping for gas," Terwilliger said.

Kefira nodded and watched the Humvee June had "stolen" ease into a gas station's parking lot. "Bee, let's find a spot across the street to keep an eye on them."

"On it." The yellow Camaro made a left turn into the diner straight across the highway from the gas station/mini-mart. He slid into an empty space, turned his headlights off, and left his engine idling.

"Thought we were never gonna find a place to fuel up," June grumbled as she got out of the Humvee and stretched, her voice running through the mic she'd left switched on. "Nothing out here but wall-to-wall fuck-all."

Kefira glanced around at their surroundings. _She's definitely not wrong._ She couldn't find anything besides the diner and gas station in the area. Everything else was the same desert landscape they'd been traversing for the past four hours. She did spot a couple of roads leading away from the highway, so if there were any other buildings around here, they were probably some distance away.

"Go inside and buy some snacks while I fill the tank."

"Gotta take a piss, anyway." McClory took a few steps toward the front door and stopped. "You ever gonna pop my shoulder back in?"

"And take away one of your motivations to stick to our agreement? Sorry, not happening until we actually reach the hostages."

McClory grumbled under his breath, walked over to one of the pumps, and lunged forward suddenly, slamming his shoulder against it and jolting it back into place. He grimaced, rubbed his shoulder, and then smirked at June as he headed for the store.

"Killjoy." She rolled her eyes, walked to the cashier window, pre-paid for the gas, and returned to the car. She started pumping and whispered, "I sure hope we get there soon. I don't know how much longer I can keep up the crazy act."

"You're doing fine," Ashanti said. "We'll slip into their base once he's led us to it, and we'll find the hostages soon after."

"Oh, shit," Terwilliger muttered.

Kefira almost glanced at him, but then she caught what he'd noticed - a man in a hoodie walking up to the counter and pulling a gun on the cashier. She sighed.

"Well, that couldn't have been timed better. Guess what, June? The store's being robbed."

"What?" June spun around, stared at the guy waving a gun in the cashier's face, and groaned. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"I doubt McClory would get involved, but if he tries anything and gets himself shot, we'll lose our only lead."

"Damn it." June took a slow breath. "Okay, I have an idea." She strode to the door and yanked it open.

The guy in the hoodie turned and snapped the gun around to point at her. She swatted his arm down, probably guided by Roz taking over the armor, and whipped her own gun out. She pointed it at his crotch and put her finger on the trigger. He stumbled back against the counter and let his gun slip from his grasp. June caught it and passed it to the trembling cashier.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, kid?" June moved aside and held her free hand out. "Just for that, you get to hand over your wallet."

"What?"

"Wallet. _Now_." She dug her gun into his crotch and giggled. "Or I'll turn your oysters into Cheerios."

With a shaking hand, the would-be robber pulled his wallet out and held it out to June. She snapped it out of his hand, took the cash, and threw the empty wallet back to him. Then she nodded at the door.

"Get lost."

"But …"

She shoved him through the door. He staggered, but stood there and stared at her with his mouth hanging open. She heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Fuck off!" She fired a round into the gravel between his feet. He jumped and squealed, then he turned and bolted.

"Holy shit," Terwilliger blurted. "Jack, did your mom just _mug_ the guy who was trying to rob the store?"

June kept watching the guy until he jumped into a beat-up old car and sped off into the night. She holstered the gun, turned to the cashier, and motioned at the stuff McClory had placed on the counter.

"Well, ring us up."

Kefira laughed as June paid for the snacks and drinks with the money she'd stolen from the robber.

Then she noticed McClory staring out through the glass door, across the street …

 _Staring straight at us. Oh, hell._

"I think we've been made," Terwilliger said.

"Hey!" McClory pushed through the door and glared at Kefira. "Somebody's _watching_ us!"

"Get ready to haul ass, Bee. June, start shooting at us."

Terwilliger blurted, "What?"

At the same time, Bee said, "Uh, what?"

"We can't let him suspect you're in on this. The best way to sell your cover is to shoot at us."

"Someone _followed_ us?" June burst through the door, shoved her way past McClory, and raised her gun. She squeezed the trigger and blasted a round into the pavement directly behind Bee's rear bumper.

"Now, Bee," Kefira said, but he'd already turned his lights back on and revved his engine.

"Way ahead of you." He launched out of the diner's parking lot, fishtailed on the street, recovered, and roared away from the gas station.

Kefira glanced into the rearview mirror in time to glimpse June charging into the street and firing a half-dozen more shots.

"Shit," Jack yelled, "is my mom okay?"

"Is _she_ okay?" Terwilliger gaped at the radio in his hand. "Jack, your mom just went full Michael Westen on us. I think she's just fine. Me, on the other hand? I need new underwear!"

Kefira chuckled and then let out a quick sigh. "Okay, we're burned. Someone else needs to swap out with us."

"My passengers and I are on our way," Ultra Magnus said. "You meet up with the rest of the team and wait for the go order."

"On our way." Kefira rested her left arm on the edge of the open window and laughed again. "This is gonna be a _fun_ night."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey," June said to the cashier, "you got a restroom?"

"Uh, b-back in the corner." He pointed with a shaking hand.

"Really?" McClory stared at her. "Now?"

"What? I gotta take a shit and I don't know how many more hours it'll take to get where we're going." She motioned at the stuff she'd just bought and headed for the bathroom. "Grab that and wait in the car."

Once inside, she locked the door, took a few steps, and started shaking violently. She slumped against the wall and tried to take a few slow, deep breaths. Her heart pounded so hard, she thought it might crack a rib.

"Easy there, June," Roz said through the earbud. "Just wait it out."

June tried to let her mind go blank. Gradually, her breaths came easier and her pulse slowed. Once she was finally back to normal, she flushed the toilet, turned the faucet on, and braced her hands on the sides of the wash basin.

"You're doing just fine, Mom," Jack said, then quickly added, "Remember not to say anything back to us."

She stared at her hands until they stopped trembling. She flexed her fingers a few times, turned the water off, and unlocked the door. After taking one more long breath to brace herself, she yanked the door open and found McClory standing right on the other side. June almost twitched, but managed to let an arched eyebrow be her only change in expression.

"Hanging out in front of restrooms, are you? Fuckin' pervert." She pushed past him and headed for the front door. "Let's get back on the road."

Once both of them were back in the Humvee, June started the engine and floored it, sending out a shower of gravel on the way out of the parking lot. In the corner of her eye, McClory flicked a startled glance at her and hurried to fasten his seatbelt.

"How much farther do we have to go?"

"Just keep driving. I'll tell you when we get there."

"Fine." June let out a sharp sigh and then reached over to dig around in the bag of snacks. She grabbed a random item, glanced at it, and sneered at McClory. "A fidget spinner? Seriously? Jesus Christ." She tossed it back into the bag.

He scowled at her and then turned away.

 _Hmm. Time to say something unnerving again, just so he doesn't get too comfortable._ "On second thought, I heard a guy sliced his own cock off with one of those a while back. Maybe I can find a use for it after all." She giggled.

He shot a wide-eyed glance at her and looked away quickly.

"What else have we got in there?" She reached in again, found a plastic bag, and pulled it out. "Oh, Cheetos. Haven't had those in a while." She braced her left knee under the steering wheel to hold it still long enough to tear the bag open and drop it in her lap. Then she put her left hand back on the wheel and started eating. After crunching away for a few minutes, she said, "Are we there yet?"

"No." He sighed.

She finished the bag over the next few minutes. "Are we there yet?"

"No! I'll fucking _tell_ you when we're there!"

"Well, that was rude." June pondered the situation for a moment, then braced her hand on his shoulder and shoved him into the door. His injured shoulder and the side of his head slammed into it and his face twisted up.

" _Ow_!"

"Oops. I guess that's my impulse control disorder kicking in. It's triggered by assholes."

He snarled and cocked his fist back. She jerked the wheel to the left and swerved into the oncoming lane. He grunted and braced his hands on the dashboard.

"You _really_ sure you want to hit the person who just happens to be _driving the vehicle you're in_? If you manage to knock me out, where would that leave you?"

He glared at her, but then he sighed and settled back in his seat, apparently giving up.

June smirked and continued driving in silence. After a few minutes passed, she decided to mess with him again. She cocked her head slightly, as if listening to something only she could hear, then she turned slowly to give him a sort of sideways Kubrick stare. He glanced at her, did a double-take, and then stared with wide eyes. She faced forward and nodded.

"Yes," she said under her breath. "I understand."

"What?" His eyes opened a little wider. "You understand _what_?"

"Don't worry about it." She put a serene smile on and just kept driving.

* * *

"Miko, are you … are you alright?"

"Still a little sore, but I'll get over it, Dad." Miko touched her face and winced at the sudden burning pain. "Probably have a concussion, and the swelling on my face is gonna be bigger than my tits when it finishes puffing up. Not that that's saying much."

Her dad reached out, hesitated, and then awkwardly put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you from this. I failed you."

"We were all outclassed. I'm just glad you weren't hurt even worse than you were." She patted his hand and walked over to grasp the bars. This place looked like it might be an underground bunker, but not left over from the Cold War. Everything here looked new, right down to the bright concrete walls and the bars on the cells everyone had been shoved into.

She glanced around at Lucas and Bobby and all the others. The rest were Raf's siblings and parents, and Miko had never met them before. The older ones tried to comfort the younger, while looking like they needed someone to do the same for them. Everyone had been divided into three groups and stuck in adjacent cells.

 _At least Bobby finally stopped crying. Poor kid._ Lucas sat in the corner, hugging his adopted son and pressing his lips together to keep his stoic expression from crumbling.

Her father glanced at them and sighed. "With any luck, this won't last long. They'll either get what they want, or your friends will find a way to make them back down. Then they'll let us go."

She stared into his eyes for a moment, glanced at the others, and then led him over to the far corner. She leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "Don't bet on it. They let us see their faces. That's not something people wearing masks do if they're planning to leave witnesses running around."

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and whispered back, "I suspected so. I was just trying to reassure you."

"Thanks." She took his hand and held it for a moment. "This just means it's up to us to get out of here on our own. My friends will be trying to find us, but if they don't have a way to track us down, all we've got is _us_."

He let out a slow breath and nodded. Miko gave the corridor another visual sweep.

 _Hmm. No cameras anywhere, at least none that I can see. That'll give us some room to maneuver._ She smirked.

"Luckily, I've got something in mind."

"You have a plan?"

"It's a work in progress, but at the moment it's all I've got. It's gonna get a little weird, but just roll with it." She turned to stare through the bars at the man and woman seated at the card table at the end of the corridor. "Hey! Come here for a minute."

"Lemme guess," the man said, "you want us to let you out so you can take a leak? Not gonna happen."

"Guess you should've gone before we left," the woman added, and then snickered.

"No, nothing like that. Just come here."

"Why?"

Miko sighed. "Look, I don't know if we'll ever get out of here. One of the ways this might end is with a bullet in the head, right? Well, I don't wanna die a virgin! You can at least let me scratch that _one_ thing off my bucket list, right?"

The man rolled his eyes, picked up his phone, and started playing around with it.

 _Great. The whole "distract the guards" thing isn't as easy as it looks in movies._ Miko sighed and pulled her shirt off.

"Come on. This might be my last request." She slipped out of her sports bra and flung it off to the side.

"Put that back on. I'm not gonna fuck a fifteen-year-old."

"Think about it. My pussy's tighter than a Chinese finger trap. You don't want to miss out on that."

"Miko!" Her father gaped at her. "What are you _doing_?"

"Him, if I'm lucky." She nodded at the guard and unzipped her pants. She let them slide to her ankles and pointed at the woman. "Well, if he's not interested, how about you? I don't _think_ I swing that way, but I'm willing to try it out and see if I like it or not." _Come on, one of you get over here so I don't have to take_ everything _off._

Both guards glanced at each other with bewildered expressions, as if asking each other, "Is this girl nuts?" They shook their heads, stood, and marched over to the cells.

"That's enough," the guy said in a weary tone. "Put your clothes back on."

"Aw, come on. Right here in front of everybody, I don't care." She stepped out of her pants and slid a thumb under the waistband of her panties.

"Stop making a scene, or we'll give you to our boss." The man smirked. "He's got a special room here. The only people who see the inside of it are those who need … an attitude adjustment."

"Is it his masturbatorium?" She glanced over her shoulder and grinned at her dad. "I bet it's his masturbatorium."

Behind her dad, Lucas kept his hands over Bobby's eyes, and Bobby kept trying to wriggle out from under them to see what was going on.

"Let me put it this way," the guard said. "People who are taken in there scream for _hours_ , and when they leave, they have to be dragged out. And the whole room has to be hosed down afterward."

"That doesn't exactly convince me that it's _not_ his masturbatorium." She pulled her panties down and tugged them over her boots.

"Damn it," the woman grumbled. "Put your clothes back on. We're not gonna ask you again."

"Well, now that I've got my mind set on it, I guess I'll have to take care of it myself." She switched on her cybernetic arm's built-in vibrator. Both guards stared at it and their faces went slack. _Hah, maybe I finally broke 'em._

"Is … is that a …?" The woman shook her head slowly.

"Yep. A giant alien robot cut my real arm off a few weeks ago. When they offered to give me a new one, I insisted they build a vibrator into it." Miko smirked at her and licked her lips slowly. "You sure you don't wanna try it out? I bet I could blow your goddamn mind."

"For the last time, kid, shut _up_!" The guy rolled his eyes and stepped up to the bars. "Get dressed and keep quiet, or I'll put a bullet in your head right now!"

Miko lunged forward, shoved her robotic hand between the bars, and clamped her fingers around his throat.

" _Hurrk_!" He pried at her fingers, but couldn't move them. She squeezed harder and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. His mouth opened, but no sound came out and no air went in. He tried to draw his sidearm, but Miko increased the pressure and his face started to turn purple. He scrabbled at her hand and sank to his knees.

Her father reached through the bars and plucked the gun from the guy's holster. He stepped back from the bars and aimed at the woman.

The man's eyes rolled back in his head and he sagged to the floor. He began sucking in gasping breaths as soon as she released him, but remained slumped over. Miko let him collapse and raised her eyes slowly to the other guard.

"Get over here. _Now_."

She hesitated, keeping her gun pointed at Miko.

Miko's dad kept his own aim steady and snapped, "Do as she says!"

The woman didn't move. Miko waved a hand at the unconscious man.

"Get your ass over here or I'll finish him off."

"You … you wouldn't. You're just a kid."

"I've taken lives before. Five of 'em at once, just a few weeks ago. It was no big deal. You think I wouldn't kill a couple of assholes who abducted and threatened to kill us?" Miko reached through the bars and pressed her thumb into the man's carotid artery. "Just one quick jab and he'll tap out in about thirty seconds."

"Alright!" The woman lowered her gun and hurried over to the cells.

"Hand it over."

The woman sighed and passed her gun through the bars. Miko grabbed it, backed away from the door, and pointed the gun at her.

"Open the cells. All of 'em."

The guard winced, but she walked to the keypad on the other side of the door and punched in a code. Once all the cells were open and their occupants out in the corridor, Miko motioned at the unconscious guard.

"Drag him inside and take his clothes off."

" _Miko_ ," her father muttered, and she shook her head.

"I figure he'll be less willing to call for help or come after us if he's naked when he wakes up." Miko glared at the other guard. "Well? Get to it! Toss his clothes out here when you're done." Once the guard followed her orders, Miko waved the gun at her. "Out." She stepped aside to let the guard pass by and slid the door shut. "Now, you get into the third cell and then get naked."

She waited for the woman to strip and toss her clothes into the corridor, then she handed her gun to her father and walked into the cell.

"Sorry, but we can't take any chances on you calling for help." She clamped her hand onto the guard's throat and bore down until she fell to her knees and then slumped over. Miko released her grip and paused a moment to be sure the woman was still breathing, then she locked the cell.

"Alright," her dad muttered, picking up Miko's clothes, "now will you _please_ put your clothes back on?"

"In a minute. I wanna make it as hard as possible for these chucklefucks to get out of there." Miko grabbed the man's belt, found a sheathed Bowie knife, and used it to pry the cover off the first keypad. Then she stabbed the knife into its innards over and over until the wires and circuit boards were a mangled mess. She did the same with the lock on the other guard's cell, then she grabbed her pile of clothes and put them back on.

"Now what?" Lucas said, holding Bobby in his arms and trying to keep the kid's eyes averted until Miko was fully dressed.

"Let's see if these two had anything useful." Miko searched the pouches and compartments on their utility belts, found three extra magazines on each, plus radios. "Sweet, we can listen in on their chatter." She searched their pockets, found some cash, and stuffed it into her own pocket. "Yoink!"

She caught her dad frowning at her and shrugged.

"Think of it as compensation for what they're putting us through." She put one of the utility belts on and sighed when it flopped around even though she'd cinched it to the last notch. She shrugged again, holstered her gun, and tossed the other belt to her dad. "We might need the extra ammo and whatnot." While he put the belt on, she picked up the phones, handed one to Lucas, and checked for a signal.

"No bars," Lucas muttered, having had the same idea. "We must be pretty far underground. Or maybe there's something in here that interferes with the signal. Maybe a jammer."

"We'll have to get to the surface, then. Or away from whatever's causing the interference." She glanced around at everyone. "Well. How about we all get the fuck outta here?"

* * *

 _Oh, hell!_ Raf darted through a door to dodge the four heavily-armed men walking toward him. His armor's stealth system kept him invisible, but they'd know he was there if they walked right into him. He watched them pass by and let out a long, slow breath when none of them reacted to his presence.

 _Okay. Gotta find a computer._ He'd used his helmet cameras and sensors to record video and data since the bus had entered the MECH compound, but there seemed to be a signal jammer preventing him from sending any of it back to the base. _If I can hack into their system and either bypass the jammers or find a way around them …_

More footsteps approached just as he'd started to step back into the hallway. He backed away from the door and glanced around the room as two more guys passed by. It looked like a conference room or a break room. One laptop sat on the table. He took a quick look at it and left it alone.

 _No wi-fi. Gotta find one with a hardline connection. Maybe then I could at least email Jack or something._

He peeked into the hallway, found it empty, and continued deeper into the building. He tried to turn each doorknob he passed, but all of them were locked. He turned the corner and stopped, his heart almost jumping into his throat, as a man in a lab coat stepped out of a door directly into Raf's path. Raf tiptoed aside as the guy walked around the corner, then he lunged at the door and grabbed its edge before it closed. He slipped through and let it close behind him. He turned to take a quick look around, and the breath caught in his throat.

 _What … the hell?_

Six tables filled the center of the room. Two were empty, but covered with blood stains. The other four were … occupied. Bloody white sheets covered whatever was on them.

More blood stains splotched the floor under and around the tables.

Trying not to hyperventilate, Raf checked his cameras to be sure they were still recording, and pivoted slowly to get a panning shot of the whole room. Shelves and benches lined the walls, holding a variety of mechanical components, circuit boards, and what appeared to be surgical instruments.

The possibilities flitting through his mind almost made him gag. He took a few slow breaths and tried to clear his mind. With a trembling hand, he reached over to the nearest table and pulled the cloth back, exposing a twisted mixture of human and machine, limbs replaced with mechanical parts, eyes replaced with things that looked like camera lenses.

He drew the cloth back farther, turned abruptly from the site, hunched over, and wretched.

 _No, no, no, not in your helmet! Don't barf in your helmet!_ He kept his eyes closed and forced himself to take deep breaths.

The thing on the operating table was … incomplete. Severed above the waist, with part of the spine exposed and … devices … grafted onto it. Interface ports, maybe.

Whatever had been done to this poor guy, he hadn't survived it.

Keeping his eyes closed, Raf turned back to the table, peeled the sheet back and made sure his cameras got a long look at the "patient," then he covered it and turned away before opening his eyes. He crept over to the nearest corner, slid to the floor, and pulled his knees up to his chest.

He wanted to be anywhere but here. He wished he were back at the base with Bumblebee and Tomoko. More than anything, he wanted to see Tomoko again. Wished he could see her smile, hear her laugh at something funny in one of the video games they liked to play. Just feel her hand on his one more time.

 _But I need to find my family and friends and get them out of here._ He pushed himself back to his feet and returned to the operating tables. _And I need to document this … whatever this is._

And, he realized, he needed to find out if any of the experiments on the table were his parents or siblings or Miko.

 _What the hell have we gotten into?_


	5. Chapter 5

"Hello. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

Sierra glanced over her shoulder and found Tenesha Hargrove and one of her camera guys stepping into the room. Khalilah and Strika had left to prep for the rescue mission, leaving only Miko's mom and her host parents in the lounge with Sierra.

"No. We're just waiting." _And waiting, and waiting._

"I heard there was an op running, connected with the attack on the base earlier today. I'm just trying to find out what's going on."

"None of us know the details, but a team's trying to find where the hostages were taken." Sierra motioned at the sofa and vacant armchair.

"I can stand for a while," the camera guy said. "Been editing video most of the day, so it's kind of a relief to walk around for a while."

Sierra nodded, waited for Tenesha to sit on the end of the sofa, and took the chair for herself. Camille flicked an annoyed glance at the reporter and scooted over to keep some distance between them. Roderick appeared to begin rolling his eyes, then stopped abruptly.

"So," Sierra said, "how much do you know? More than we do, probably."

"I'm told the operation is classified for now, but I'm hoping the world can be told about it sooner or later. It'd be good for everyone to see our visitors working with us to save their friends and families' lives from a terrorist organization."

"How are things going out there?" Roderick turned to face her. "We've been caught up in all this stuff. Haven't really heard how the world is reacting now that they know there's a bunch of alien robots here."

"There's a wide range of reactions. Lots of people think it's really cool. Lots of others are up in arms over the 'alien invasion' being kept secret for three years. A few foreign governments are pissed off about the aliens being based in America, but this is where they just happened to land, so …" Tenesha shrugged. "Social media sites are pretty toxic with people arguing over this and that, but they've become that way over everything, in the past few years."

"Yeah," Sierra said. "It's bad enough with normal, everyday stuff. Like, if you don't hate a certain TV show enough, you get dog-piled and accused of being paid to say good things about it. I've started to stay away from Facebook, aside from a few friends and family I keep in contact with. I imagine it gets _really_ heated when things like the alien robots are brought up."

"Yeah, I've had to take a break from some of the worst ones. If I didn't need social media for my job, I'd probably make it a permanent vacation." Tenesha laughed. "The worst reaction, though, has to be from the Westboro Baptist Church. As you might imagine, they've gone completely nuts."

"Like they weren't before." Roderick shook his head. "They just hate _everyone_ who isn't them. I bet finding out about aliens here on Earth made them go through the roof."

"It did. They're even talking about protesting the funerals of Colonel McKenna's team members who were killed in action during the raid on the _Nemesis_. I'm told that's why the services haven't been held yet. They tracked down the families and found out where they were planning to have the funerals."

"That's disgusting. I'll never understand how anyone could be so filled with hate."

"I don't get it, either. But I don't think that's a bad thing. I'd start to worry if I actually understood what makes people like them tick." Tenesha glanced at the monitors. "How goes the mission?"

Sierra looked up at the feed from Ultra Magnus's cameras. He'd swapped places with Bumblebee's team and followed June's Humvee at a distance with his headlights turned off. Since it was night, McClory wouldn't be able to see him following, but his optics and sensors kept him aware of everything around him. It'd keep working as long as he didn't pass a cop and get pulled over for driving without headlights.

"Like I said, now we're just waiting. McClory won't tell June where they're going, and she's just driving wherever he tells her to go. Hopefully, sooner or later they'll get to where the hostages are being held."

"I hope so," Miko's mother said softly. She stared at the monitors and wrung her hands slowly.

"They'll come home safe, Natsumi," Roderick said. "From what I've heard, the kids were surviving battle after battle before they even had the kind of support they're getting from this base. And Miko seems to have been doing a lot of training over the past month or two. I mean, you saw her sparring matches. She can handle herself, and she's not alone."

"I hope you're right." Natsumi continued staring at the monitors for a moment longer, then let a shaky smile show. "Miko has changed so much since she came here. Daisuke was very strict when raising her. Back home, she hardly ever talked to anyone. She would just stand or sit somewhere, occasionally look around, but never touch anything. Hardly ever smiled, except when she was playing with her kittens. We came here as soon as we were told what happened to her arm, and of course we were horrified and intended to take her home as soon as she recovered." Her smile grew. "Then we saw how _alive_ she is here, when she was with her friends. We barely recognized her."

"Well, I didn't run into her often, when she lived in Jasper." Sierra laughed. "I do know she spent a lot of time in detention because she always goofed off in class and seemed to be on her way to becoming a juvenile delinquent."

Roderick nodded. "She was a handful, alright. Maybe she had _too_ much freedom after coming here. Always taking foolish risks and keeping us constantly terrified that she'd get seriously hurt. And when we were told about that _thing_ cutting her arm off … Camille and I have never been so scared in our lives." He shook his head slowly. "But that seems to have finally snapped her out of it. She's become determined to learn how to protect herself, and I've seen her actually stop and think instead of just throwing herself into a risky situation."

"I'm so glad to hear that." Natsumi leaned back in her chair and seemed to notice herself wringing her hands. She stopped and let them rest in her lap. "I know it's incredibly dangerous for her to stay here, but taking her back home would be even worse for her, I think. Here, she is truly alive."

"If she stays involved in this," Camille said, "she could be _killed_."

"And if she goes back to the life she had before, I think she would die inside. She would lose her friends and perhaps even her _purpose_." Natsumi stared at her hands for a few more seconds, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I think we should let her _live_."

* * *

"I hope we're not just going in circles," one of Raf's brothers mumbled, and Miko shook her head.

"We've gone up a few sets of stairs, so no, not going in circles."

"I … well, yeah, I just mean, I hope you know where you're going."

Miko held up a hand as they approached another corner, and he stopped talking. She tiptoed over to the wall, listened for a moment, and then peeked around. The hallway was empty, and there was a window at the end.

"Looks like we've reached the surface." She led them around the turn. "It's night, but that looks like a parking lot outside." She rushed over to the window, pausing at an intersection to check for bad guys, and took a long look. "I see several other buildings. Looks like a couple of warehouses and maybe a hanger. And that thing over on the left might be a runway. MECH might've taken over a small, private airfield, and turned it into a base. Probably way before their leader was arrested, since it'd take a while to build that underground bunker."

Her father nodded. "If we can find the bus they brought us here in, or another vehicle that can carry everyone, we can escape."

"First thing we need to do is tell my friends where we are. If we steal a bus, all these guys have to do is shoot the tires out, and we'd be screwed." She pulled her stolen phone out and glanced at the screen. "Still no bars. They must be using a jammer. What we need to do is find a computer connected to a hard line. Then we can just find ourselves on Google Maps and email our exact location to Jack and the others."

"Assuming they're not using a VPN," Lucas said. "But if they are, we should be able to turn it off."

"Sounds like a plan." Miko led them back to the intersection and motioned for them to stop. "Okay, wait here a sec. I'm gonna scout ahead and be sure we're taking the right corridor." Before her dad could object, she took the hallway on the right and crept to the end, pausing to peek through the occasional window in a door before continuing on.

At the last door on the right, she peeked into the window and started to move on before something inside registered in her head.

 _Wait, did something just move in there? I didn't see anyone._ She took a second look and almost gasped when a gadget on a shelf appeared to levitate and then turn slowly in the air. Miko squinted and thought she could make out a rippling in the air around it, like heat waves.

Or the faint distortion caused by the active camouflage systems her and Raf's armor used.

She glanced at her father and the others, held up a hand to tell them to stay put, and turned the knob slowly.

 _Locked. Damn it._ She took a breath. _It's gotta be Raf. Nobody who actually belongs here would need to hide from the rest of these assholes._ She let the breath out slowly, pressed her face against the window, and tapped a knuckle on the door.

The gadget dropped suddenly, stopped, and returned to the shelf. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then she caught a glimpse of the air rippling, the distortion appearing to come closer to the door. Miko backed away and prepared herself to turn and run, just in case.

The distortion grew more pronounced before dissipating and revealing a familiar suit of high-tech armor just as it reached the door. The door opened and Raf appeared, pulling his helmet off and grinning.

"Miko! Am I glad to see you!" He threw his arms around her and she laughed and hugged him back.

She glanced over her shoulder and waved, then whispered, "Come on, guys! I've found Raf."

She gave his parents and siblings a moment to mob him, then she stepped forward and glanced into the room.

"I hope you've found a way to let our friends know where we are."

"Yeah, just a few minutes ago. Found a computer connected to a landline, disabled their VPN, and emailed our location to Jack, along with a ton of stuff I've recorded." Raf grimaced. "I saw some of MECH's experiments. Really horrible, messed-up stuff."

"Glad you were able to get the info out. So, they're on the way, then?"

An alarm blared suddenly, and everyone nearly jumped out of their skin. Miko's heart pounded and she took a few breaths and tried to stop shaking.

"Oh, no," Lucas mumbled. "They must've found our cells empty. Or maybe they saw us on a camera."

"Well, we've got to …" The sound of running footsteps caught her attention and she trailed off. "Shit! Everybody in! Hurry! Into the room!"

Her dad pushed her through the door and then made sure everyone else followed her before stepping into the room, himself. He glanced to the right and his mouth and eyes opened wide before he darted inside and closed the door.

"I think they saw me."

"Find something to hide behind." Miko waved at everyone to move farther into the room. They ducked behind cabinets and shelves and whatever else they could use for cover. Miko turned back to the door and found her dad and Raf standing beside her. Raf put his helmet back on, activated his stealth system, and vanished. Her dad drew his confiscated pistol and aimed it at the door. Heart pounding again, Miko did the same, then nudged his shoulder.

"Let's get behind those lockers over there," she whispered, nodding to the left. As they moved into position, a hand on the other side of the door grasped the knob and turned it. Miko shook her head and tried not to hold her breath.

 _Well, fuck me._

* * *

"Hey, Mom," Jack said through June's earbud. He sounded out of breath, as if he'd been sprinting. "We finally got a message from Raf. He's in the MECH base where the hostages are being held. Mom … Jesus, they're in the complete opposite direction. McClory's been taking you _farther away_ from them."

 _What?_ June flicked a glance at McClory. _Shit, I should've expected this. What made me think he wouldn't be up to something?_

"We're mobilizing," Jack continued. "And don't even try to keep me and Arcee out of this. We're hitching a ride in Strika and will be there to back you up in a few minutes. Ultra Magnus, Chang, and Washington are right behind you, and will get there first."

 _I won't need any backup._ Part of her was startled by the sudden rage searing through her, as well as the plans coming together in her head. The rest no longer gave a shit, because enough was enough. _Fuck being a nurse, just this once._

She swerved over to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes. McClory grunted as he shot forward and pulled his seatbelt taut. The Humvee skidded to a stop and June turned slowly to spear him with a smoldering glare.

" _Now_ what?" he snarled.

Slowly, calmly, June reached into the back seat and picked up her helmet. McClory's angry expression faltered, his eyes opened wider, and his lips parted as she put the helmet on and locked the seals.

"What the hell's wrong now?" McClory stared at her a few more seconds, then unhooked his seatbelt. "What're you doing?"

June turned the engine off, pulled the key out, and released her seatbelt before answering him.

"You lied to me." She opened the door and got out.

"What? What're you talking about?" He grabbed his gun and June almost panicked, but then she remembered that she was wearing armor.

"You haven't been taking me to the hostages. You've been telling me to drive in the exact _opposite_ direction." Slowly, calmly, inexorably, June walked around the front of the Humvee to the passenger side.

"Wha … how do you know that?"

"And you just confirmed it."

McClory threw the door open, snapped his gun up, and fired three rounds. Each slammed into her chest, right where her heart was, but bounced off the armor. June gritted her teeth and somehow managed not to flinch or break her stride. McClory jumped out of the Humvee and backed away from her. She changed course to keep advancing on him, and he emptied the rest of the magazine into her chest and head. She continued her approach, thankful that she'd had the presence of mind to put her helmet on.

"We're almost there, June," Washington said into her earbud. June ignored her and continued her march toward McClory.

"Normally, I don't kill someone without being paid for it, but in this case, I'm gonna do it for _fun_."

McClory's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He backed up a few more steps, then turned and bolted. June sprinted after him, caught up, and then fired her armor's micro-thrusters, launching her straight into him. The impact knocked him off his feet and scooted him across the pavement for a few seconds before he rolled onto his back and swung his fist into the side of her head.

"You really are fuckin' stupid, you know that? I'm wearing _armor_ , and you're trying to punch me."

He braced his hands against her chest and pushed her off. While she tried to regain her balance, he put a boot against her visor and shoved her away. He picked himself up and ran while June got back on her feet. She chased him again, fired another burn from her rear thrusters, and passed him. She spun to face him and sneered.

He reached for his belt and pulled out a knife. June cocked her head.

 _Where the hell did he get that? Wait …_ She moved her right hand down to the sheath built into her utility belt and found it empty. _Well, shit, he picked it off me when I was on top of him._

"You want me to pilot your armor for this?" Roz asked through her earbud.

"No. This one's _mine_."

McClory lunged at her and thrust the knife at her throat, going for one of the flexible, vulnerable points in her armor. June raised her left hand and slammed it down on his wrist, knocking the blade from his grip and breaking his arm with a sharp _snap_. He stumbled backward, clutched at his arm, and opened his mouth wide. He managed to hold a scream in, but his whole body shook with the sudden shock and pain.

June watched him tremble for a few seconds before picking up the knife and slipping it back into its sheath. Then she stomped toward him and he backed up until he bumped into the Humvee. He held his hand up and slid along its side to get away from her.

"Wait!"

She didn't stop. Didn't slow down. Just marched right up to him, pulled her right fist back, and rocketed it into his gut. The impact lifted him clean off the ground and dropped him onto the vehicle's hood. He curled up, unable to breathe, and rolled off the hood to land in front of the Humvee.

June noticed an engine approaching, glanced to the left, and recognized Ultra Magnus's vehicle mode. She turned back to McClory, kicked him across the street, and watched him flop into the ditch. She stomped over to him, grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him up, and then punched him in the face. Then she punched him again. And then _again_ , each time ignoring his pleas for her to stop.

"Holy shit, June!" Chang's voice, this time, as two pairs of footsteps ran up behind her. "That's enough! He's not worth it."

Washington ran around in front of her, stopped, and gripped June's shoulders while Chang strode past them and snapped a pair of handcuffs onto McClory.

"Ease down, June. He's not going anywhere."

What she'd almost done sank in and she slumped against the Humvee. "Oh … oh, fuck!"

"Mom," Jack said, "are you okay? What the hell happened?"

"I … I almost killed him." June leaned forward and braced her hands on her knees. "I almost killed a person."

"But you didn't," Washington said. "You can be yourself now. We don't need this dipshit anymore."

"Right … you know where the hostages are." June sucked in a few more deep breaths.

"Yeah. We're gonna head out as soon as we're all back together."

"We're gonna take the ground-bridge back to the Autobot base," Chang added, "and then bridge from there to a location near their base, but out of visual range. Then the 'Bots will use their vehicle modes to carry us the rest of the way."

"Why not just bridge right into their base?"

"Since MECH is always trying to get their hands on new tech, we don't need 'em seeing the ground-bridge in use. It'd just give 'em one more thing to go after if we can't shut 'em down permanently."

 _Oh. Right. Duh._ _Gotta get myself back under control. I'm not thinking clearly._

"Okay, then, fire it up," she finally said. "Let's go."

"You sure you want to be in on this?" Washington put a hand on June's shoulder. "You've done your part. This could get messy. You want to go back to the base and wait for …?"

"I'm sure. I want to finish this with all of you."

Washington gazed into her eyes for a few seconds and then nodded and patted June's shoulder. "Okay, then. Colonel?"

Ashanti's voice came over the radio. "It's settled, then. We'll regroup in the Autobot base and then go rescue the hostages. And then we'll drop the fuckin' spike on MECH."


	6. Chapter 6

_Here we go._ Miko fought the urge to peek around the end of the lockers as the door opened. If everyone could keep quiet, maybe the guy would make a quick visual sweep and then move on. Her dad thought the search party had spotted him, but he could be wrong. Maybe he'd ducked out of sight before anyone could look in the right direction.

"We know you're in here. You might as well come out where we can see you."

 _Fuck._

"Come out now, and we won't hurt you. If we have to go looking for you, it'll just make us cranky."

Miko concentrated on the sound of the boots moving slowly across the floor. She could make out at least three or four different sets of footsteps, but they kind of blended together. For all she knew, there could be twice as many people fanning out across the room.

One set in particular seemed to be getting closer. Miko slipped her gun back into its holster, cocked her robotic arm back, and waited. A woman in the familiar green MECH uniform appeared around the end of the locker, wearing a tactical vest and carrying an assault rifle. She spun to face Miko and raised the gun into firing position.

Miko lunged at her, swatted the gun upward, and drove an uppercut straight into the woman's crotch. She doubled over with an ear-splitting scream and curled up on the floor. Miko grabbed the rifle, plucked two spare magazines from her belt and stuffed them into a pocket, and then pulled the woman's tactical vest off. She put it on and zipped it up. It fit loosely, but it'd have to be good enough.

 _Okay. Now I've got_ some _protection, at least._ She backed a few steps toward the wall to give herself some room, raised the rifle, and crouched. In the corner of her eye, her dad glanced at the woman and back to Miko, and stared at her in shock. She shrugged and focused on the open space past the end of the lockers.

"What the hell?" someone muttered, followed by a sharp intake of breath. Miko frowned and decided to risk a quick peek. She found Raf standing beside one of the men at the rear of the group, his finger hooked through the pin on a grenade on the guy's belt. The man stared at Raf and held his breath.

Miko flicked her eyes around and counted six other people in MECH uniforms before Raf pulled the pin, flung it across the room, and vanished. The man let out a strangled scream, yanked the grenade from his belt, pulled the door open, and pitched it into the hallway. It bounced off to the left and exploded with a sharp _bang_. Everyone else winced and turned one way and another, trying to locate Raf, while the hostages let out a cacophony of terrified screams.

Miko drew her pistol and popped out long enough to drill two guys in the kneecaps before ducking back into cover. Across the room, a heavy piece of machinery rose off a shelf as the two guys collapsed, and shot through the air. It slammed into the side of another guy's head and knocked him flat on his back. He groaned once and passed out. The rest of them turned and opened fire on the spot it had launched from, and Miko caught a glimpse of the air rippling along the wall as Raf darted away from the hail of bullets.

Miko poked her head out again, picked the nearest enemy, and shot her in the left ass cheek. Her leg buckled and she dropped the gun and rolled around on the floor, screaming.

Something that looked like an oversized helmet launched from another shelf and fired across the room. Miko peeked around the corner just in time to see it hit another woman right in the face. She staggered back, blood pouring from her nose, and toppled over. She dropped her gun, clamped her hands over her face and groaned.

"Fuck this," she snarled, and scooted over to the door. She fumbled with the knob, smearing blood all over it, and then yanked the door open and scrambled into the hallway.

In the corner of her eye, Raf's dad popped into sight, scooped up a rifle someone had dropped, and aimed into the center of the room.

 _Only two left. Might as well see if we can get 'em to back down. Maybe we can get out of this without actually killing anyone._ She holstered her pistol, gripped the rifle with both hands, and stepped into the open. Her dad emerged behind her and helped her cover the remaining bad guys.

Raf's mom appeared, glanced around, and grabbed another dropped rifle. Her hands trembled, but she kept it pointed in the two men's general direction.

The guys looked around slowly, grimaced, lowered the guns to the floor and kicked them out of reach. They placed their hands on their heads and sank to their knees. Miko let out a long sigh.

 _Okay, one checkpoint reached, and we only maimed a few of 'em._

She noticed the sounds of kids weeping, now that the shooting had stopped. Bobby and some of Raf's youngest siblings, probably.

"Be thankful that we didn't slaughter you," her father said. "You deserve it, after threatening to kill _children_."

"We didn't exactly have any choice," one of the guys mumbled. "Sokolov … hell, you might as well put a bullet in us right now."

"Those two guards you locked up," the other man said, "the ones you stripped naked … he executed them on the spot. Just shot them right between the eyes. Because they let a fifteen-year-old girl get the upper hand."

Miko suddenly felt as if ice water had flooded her guts. "Oh, shit …"

Raf appeared beside her and stared at the men. "Why would you work for someone like that?"

"We didn't know he was _that_ crazy until it was too late. Some of us are only sticking around because of what might happen if we try to go AWOL."

Miko shook her head and turned to the door. "Just stay here, then. Lay low until it's all over. If there are any first-aid kits in here, see what you can do for your buddies. We've got a team coming to extract us. If they find you, don't put up a fight. If you do, you'll just die." She turned back to her dad and the others. "Everybody, grab one of their vests and put it on, just in case we run into any more of these guys."

She strode through the door and found the woman with the bloody nose sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. She glanced up at Miko, shook her head, and held her hands up.

"Easy, there. I've had enough. I figured the pay was good, but I didn't sign up for _this_ shit." She pointed at the intersection before tilting her head back and putting her hand back on her nose. "Take the hall to the right, then another right, then a left. That'll lead you to the nearest exit."

"You're not worried about Sokolov shooting you?" Miko stepped aside to let everyone else file into the hallway.

The woman nodded at the rifle on the floor beside her and said, "I'll blow his head off if he tries." She sighed and wiped tears from her eyes. "Just get the fuck outta here before I change my mind."

"Thanks." Miko turned around to be sure everyone else had put on a tactical vest and joined her in the hallway.

Raf closed the door and placed his hand against the keypad beside it. "I can lock them in with my armor's EMP generator, but you'll need to get out of range first. It'll fry whatever electronic devices you've got on you. Including your arm, Miko."

She raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Well, I can't let anything happen to my favorite vibrator. How far away do we need to be?"

"The far end of the hall should be enough."

"Now that I think about it," the woman on the floor mumbled, "lock me in with those guys. The more obstacles between me and Sokolov, the better." She picked her gun up and stumbled through the door.

"Alright, then." Miko jogged to the end of the corridor and the others followed her. "Let 'er rip."

* * *

"Our first priority is the hostages," Ashanti said as the team approached the MECH base. "Once they're secured, we'll take MECH down. Arrest them if possible, but if they refuse to surrender, do what you have to do. Especially if any of them put one of the hostages in their crosshairs."

"We're almost there," Tomoko said over the radio. She'd pulled ahead to scout the base. "I'm seeing several buildings that look like warehouses, two hangars, and ten smaller buildings. My scans are showing structures beneath three of those buildings, like underground bunkers. And I've just spotted twenty … huh, they look like robots, but my scans show humans inside them."

"Mech suits or powered armor, probably," DeeDee said. "Seems like the kind of thing these guys would build."

"Strika, you should set down before we get within range of any anti-aircraft weapons. We'll proceed on wheels and on foot from here."

"Descending now, Colonel."

In the corner of her eye, Tomoko's human-size body lifted the bag Miko's armor had been stuffed into, put her hand on the door handle, and waited for Optimus to reach the waypoint Strika had sent to everyone's HUD. They'd almost arrived when Tomoko's mini-me squealed and pointed straight ahead. At the same time, a series of dull _whumps_ came from the air.

"They're shooting at me!"

"Get on the ground!" Ashanti glanced up, found Tomoko in a steep dive, and zoomed in with her helmet cameras. Tomoko transformed out of her helicopter mode, landed on her feet, stumbled, and then faceplanted, the impact shaking the ground and sending up a huge puff of dirt. She curled up and threw her arms over her head until the shooting stopped, and then she pushed herself up and shifted into her half-spider mode.

"Are you okay?" Ashanti glanced from her to her Pretender body in the passenger seat.

"Yeah, I - I think so." She sighed and took a moment to pull herself together, and Ashanti glanced around, searching for the rest of the team. In her HUD, their blips converged on her position.

"We are here," Optimus said.

Ashanti and Tomoko jumped out and jogged far enough away to give him room to transform back into his robot mode. She turned around and found Bee, Ultra Magnus, Smokescreen, and Arcee and Jack approaching, followed by Elita-1 and her entire team. They hadn't taken on any local disguises yet, so their vehicle modes looked quite alien.

Not that there was any reason for them to hide, anyway. Not for _this_ fight.

Khalilah soared overhead, transformed out of her jet mode, and landed on her feet a few dozen yards away, carving two grooves into into the desert terrain until she came to a stop. At the same time, Strika landed and opened her side doors, disgorging June, Rosalina, several other Pretenders, and the human-size duplicates of Bee, Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Khalilah, Strika, Elita, Chromia, Firestar, Greenlight, Lancer, Moonracer, and Strongarm.

Once all the passengers were clear, the Autobots and their new allies transformed into their primary modes and advanced on the MECH base. Ashanti zoomed in for another look at the fence at the base's perimeter and found several dozen robotic-looking things taking positions just beyond the fence. An even closer look revealed humans inside, using pedals and joysticks to move around.

"Yep, that's powered armor. Looks like they've been busy since we locked their boss up."

"Building their own giant robots," Elita said with a smirk. "How adorable."

"Don't underestimate them," Khalilah said. "I saw a lot of Vehicons killed by human weapons before some of us defected."

"Approach with caution," Optimus ordered, "but those of us too large to fit inside those buildings need to neutralize enemy forces out here while everyone else goes in to rescue the hostages."

"Alright, then." Elita plucked the huge cannon from her back and stomped toward the compound. "Let's kick this off."

The power armor units pointed their arms at the 'Bots and Ashanti noticed what appeared to be cannons mounted on them.

"Uh, watch out for those guns. They might be loaded with -"

The mech units opened fire. Long muzzle flashes erupted from the cannons and the 'Bots leaped aside to dodge whatever they'd fired. In the corner of Ashanti's eye, a shell slammed into Khalilah's chest and sent her staggering off to the right. She clamped a hand over the wound, grunted, then groaned, and then screamed and doubled over. Ashanti caught a glimpse of the inside of the wound glowing white-hot and molten metal dripping out onto the ground. Khalilah stumbled around and then collapsed.

"It's still … it won't stop burning!" She screamed again and curled into a fetal position.

Jensen's voice came over the radio. "Jesus, somebody do something! _Khalilah_!"

"Get her under cover!" Elita ran to her side, laying down covering fire as she sprinted, each titanic footstep making the ground shudder. Strika and Tomoko joined her, the former dragging her behind the nearest warehouse and the latter shooting globs of her semi-organic spiderweb from her palm-mounted launchers to try to immobilize the enemy troops. Elita pried Khalilah's hand away from the wound so she could get a closer look at the damage. "What kind of weapon is that?"

"How is she?" Jensen's voice quavered. "Is … is she still …?"

"She is still operational," Strika said. "The shot missed her spark chamber. Whatever was in that projectile, it's still burning through her, but it seems to have slowed."

"Not … enough," Khalilah grunted. Her whole body shook.

Ashanti glanced around and found the rest of the 'Bots taking cover behind other buildings or chunks of rock big enough to conceal them. _Good thing they set up their base near some rock formations, and not a flatland._

"You should turn off your pain receptors," Strika said. "Just don't forget how badly damaged you are. Try not to move."

"R-right. Okay. Let me just … uh …" Khalilah uncurled slowly and stretched out on her back. "That's better … but I'm still … a little worried."

"Stay with me, Khalilah," Jensen said. "You'll be okay, just stay put until we can get you out of there. And just _hang on_."

"I'll do my best, Chad." She glanced over at her human-size doppelgänger. "I've got my remote-control body, there, so I can stay in the fight. I'll help Ashanti with the hostages."

"Ratchet," Ashanti said, "can you send Steve and a couple of the other defectors through the ground-bridge to take Khalilah back to the base? She needs immediate medical attention."

"Activating the bridge now. They'll be there momentarily."

"Thanks." She sighed. "I hate to say this, but be prepared for more incoming wounded."

Tomoko leaned in for a closer look at the wound. "It's not melting through as fast as it was, but it hasn't stopped."

Elita put a hand on Khalilah's shoulder. "As Jensen said, you hang on." She stood, turned toward the compound, and her face twisted with rage. She glanced around at her team and said, " _Shoot to kill_."

Optimus turned and stared at her. "Elita, we did not come here to slaughter them."

"They're not helpless. They're capable of severely damaging us, maybe even killing us. My team and I are treating them like any other enemy." She glanced at Chromia and the rest. "You heard me. Take those bastards _out_."

Moonracer nodded, peeked around the corner for a quick glance at the enemy troops, and plucked the sniper rifle from her back. She hopped onto the warehouse roof, her weight leaving dents as she sprang into the air. The MECH troops turned to fire at her. She twisted in the air and the shells zipped past her. She lined up a shot as she turned upside-down and pulled the trigger. A slug ripped from the railgun and broke the sound barrier before it cut one of the powered armor-wearing humans in half. Ashanti winced at the _boom_ that rattled everything around her as Moonracer completed her arc, landed on her feet between the warehouse and a smaller building, and darted out of sight.

Ashanti shook it off and spoke into her helmet mic. "Everyone who can fit through a normal-size door, regroup at my position. We're going in."

* * *

"At least we got out of there without stumbling onto the torture room that guard told us about." Miko's father held the door open for everyone to file out of the building.

"I still wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a dildo dungeon, or something." Miko smirked and took a slow look around the parking lot. "Probably would've found their boss sitting on his thumb and jerking off to _My Little Pony_ porn."

Her dad paused to gape at her for a few seconds before sighing and pointing across the compound. "I see some small vehicles way over there, but not the bus we arrived in. Maybe they moved it into a hangar to hide it."

Miko squinted at the vehicles on the other side of the compound. "Oh, some of them look like SWAT tanks. If we can steal a few of those, we'll have better protection than we would in the bus." She took another look at the small buildings and stacks of cargo canisters between her and there. "Okay, we can get across most of this place by using that stuff as cover, then it'll be a short sprint the rest of the way."

"Miko, I don't think …" Her father sighed. "Well, I suppose it's better than hiding somewhere and waiting for them to find us."

"That's the spirit. We probably won't be able to fit many of us into each one, so you can drive one, each of Raf's parents can take two others, and I'll grab another. If that's not enough, maybe Lucas can drive a fifth."

"Do you even know how to drive yet?"

"I do a lot of driving in _GTA Online_. How hard can the real thing be?" She darted across the parking lot before he could say anything else. She glanced over her shoulder and found him grimacing and then sighing and waving everyone else ahead of him. He brought up the rear and Miko faced forward again. She paused behind the first building and waited for them to catch up.

"Suppose we run into more of these lunatics?" her dad said.

"Then we do what we have to do."

He stared at her for several seconds before looking away. "I … suppose we won't have any choice."

"Pretty much." She smirked and crept to the end of the wall. "And I'm kinda hoping we run into Sokolov. I owe him for the concussion and the bruises."

"I hope we _don't_. We saw how dangerous he is, and now we know how _insane_ he is."

"If he gets in my way, I'm gonna punch him in the dick until it _liquefies_." Miko peeked around the corner and sprinted across to a stack of shipping crates.

"Hey," Raf said suddenly, and she glanced over at him. He pointed into the air. "I see a helicopter approaching, and it's not one of theirs."

Miko strained her ears and finally noticed the rapid thumping of rotors. She ran to the end of the shipping crate and poked her head out long enough to glimpse an incoming chopper. She couldn't quite make out the shape from here, but the colors - black and sunset red - were familiar. She broke into a huge grin.

"I think that's Tomoko! I bet the others aren't far behind."

"Yeah." Raf crept up beside her and pointed again. "There's another one that looks like a Cargobob. I bet that's Strika."

"They've found us!" A wave of giddiness swept over her and she had to suck in several deep breaths. Once she'd regained her composure, she waved at the others. "Those SWAT-tank thingies should be able to plow right through the fence around the base. If we can get to them, we can make a break for it while our friends keep these assholes busy."

She took another quick look around. The path looked clear, so she bolted across another open space and took cover behind another building.

Straight ahead, just past the fence, a silo sprouted from the ground and opened to reveal a pair of huge cannons. They rotated and fired, and the explosive sound rattled her bones. She glanced to the left and spotted Tomoko swerving and diving to dodge the incoming fire. She plunged to the ground, transformed, touched down, then stumbled and fell flat on her face.

 _Oh, no! Was she hit?_

Tomoko picked herself up and shifted into her half-spider mode, and Miko let out a quick sigh. She checked on the others, waited for all of them to catch up with her, and then she sprinted over to the final piece of cover, a stack of crates holding ammunition.

 _Fantastic. One stray shot in the wrong place, and we'll end up medium-rare._ She glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the group and decided not to call their attention to it. "We're almost there. Just one last dash to the finish line."

"Then we just need to hope they're not locked."

 _Ohhh. Shit._ Miko shrugged. "Guess we'll find out."

"I should be able to handle that," Raf said. "It'd give me a chance to try out a few more of my armor's hacking tools."

The roar of a jet in the distance caught Miko's attention and she glanced over toward Tomoko. A familiar purple jet streaked into sight, shifted into a Vehicon, and landed.

"There's Khalilah." Miko grinned as Strika landed and unloaded her passengers, and more of Team Prime arrived.

Then more robotic shapes appeared, filing out of the nearby warehouse, and Miko stopped and stared.

"Uh, what the fuck are those?"

Raf turned in the same direction. "I'm zooming in on 'em. Huh, they look like mecha suits. Twelve or thirteen feet tall, with human operators."

"Huh. MECH troops in mech suits. Terrific."

"They've got cannons mounted on their arms."

The powered-armor units opened fire. Most of the 'Bots dodged the projectiles, but one slammed into Khalilah's chest and sent her staggering away.

Then she _screamed_ and collapsed, and Miko shivered.

"Raf … is she …?"

"I think she's still moving. They dragged her out of the line of fire, so she's got a chance, at least."

"I _hope_ so!" Miko sprinted to the nearest SWAT tank and tugged on the door handle. Locked, of course.

A muffled voice came from inside. "What the hell?"

 _Uh-oh._ Miko took a step back as the door opened and a guy in a MECH uniform poked his head out. She waited just long enough to be sure he didn't have his seatbelt on, then she grabbed him by the throat and yanked him out of the vehicle. She let him drop and her dad ran over to cover him with his stolen rifle. The guy started to sit up, noticed the gun pointed at him, and froze. Miko plucked the pistol and knife from his belt and smirked.

"Unlock the rest of these things."

He groaned and stood slowly. Keeping his hands raised, he walked from one vehicle to another, with Miko and her dad keeping their guns on him. Once he'd finished, Miko twitched her rifle in the general direction of the building they'd left a few minutes ago.

"Thanks. Now, take a hike."

He backed up a few steps and turned, then glanced over his shoulder as if expecting to be shot in the back. Finally, he broke into a jog, then a sprint. Miko turned back to the far side of the base just in time to watch one of the newer team members leap off the warehouse's roof, do a twist-and-flip in midair, and snipe one of the mecha units clean in half with a huge railgun.

" _Nice!_ " Miko turned back to the others and waved a hand at the vehicles. "All aboard! We're getting the hell outta here!"

She waited for Raf and several of his brothers and sisters to jump in, then she followed them and pulled the door shut. She glanced over the dashboard and drew a slow breath.

"Okay, pedals, steering wheel … and a whole bunch of buttons and levers and joysticks." _I sure hope I can figure out how to start the fuckin' thing._

Raf pointed. "That guy left the keys in."

"Sweet!" Miko turned the key and the engine roared to life. "I just hope all the others have keys in 'em, too."

"Well, my sister Catalina has known how to hotwire cars since she was my age. Other than that, though … yeah, this could be a problem."

"Okay. Well … if the others can't be started, at least we're behind the armor on these things." She noticed one of the joysticks had a trigger and a couple of red buttons. She jiggled the stick and a crosshair moved on a small screen above it. "Oh, and it looks like these are _armed_. If nothing else, I can get into some mischief."

Raf sucked in a quick breath. "Oh, I'm not thinking! I'm gonna see if I can contact our friends, assuming my radio's not still jammed."

Miko nodded, then squinted through the narrow window at motion on the far side of the base and groaned. "Better hurry. Ashanti's team is going into one of the buildings, but we're not there anymore."

He nodded, then looked up at her with wide eyes. "I just had another thought. We're in enemy vehicles, and the 'Bots don't know it yet. They'll think we're just more bad guys."

"Crap." Miko shook her head, then another motion caught her attention and she faced forward again.

Elita-1 was stomping straight toward her and the others, an enraged glare on her face and a _huge_ gun in her hands. Another chill rippled through Miko's chest.

"Aw, _shit_."


	7. Chapter 7

"It's a shame we can't use any of this footage in our documentary series," the camera guy said, leaning forward and staring at the monitors as the battle raged on.

"Some of it might be declassified eventually. We'll just have to wait for it." Tenesha shrugged. "The interviews we get after the team comes back should be interesting, though."

Sierra nodded, but had most of her attention on the feed from Smokescreen's optics and her occasional glances at the other monitors. On the feed from Arcee's optics, Smokescreen shifted back into his vehicle mode and raced across the pavement toward one of the guys in powered armor. The guy noticed him a split-second before Smokescreen plowed into him, knocking both legs out from under him.

" _Boop!_ " Smokescreen laughed as the man tumbled through the air and then slid across the ground. Sierra burst into laughter.

"Hmm." Tenesha cocked her head. "Took me a moment to remember where I'd seen one of those cars before. It looks like the one you had in the game everyone was playing a couple weeks ago."

"Yeah." Sierra chuckled. "The Grotti X80 Proto. When I mentioned it was my favorite car in the game, Smokescreen used it as his vehicle mode. Not sure how he did it. I thought they had to scan real vehicles, but I guess he built a 3D model or something." She blushed. "Well, however he did it, I thought it was really sweet."

"Ah. You two are, uh …?"

Sierra wondered if she should keep quiet about it, but then she decided to let the cat out of the bag. Her parents would find out about it sooner or later, anyway.

"Yep."

"Interesting. I wonder how many centuries old he is."

"I never asked him." Sierra shrugged. "He's young compared to most of the others, and his personality is a lot like most of the guys I go to school with, so it never really occurred to me. Uh, I mean, guys other than Vince and the clods who hang out with him."

Tenesha grinned. "Still haven't gotten your hostility toward him out of your system, even after you spent a few hours kicking his ass all over Los Santos?"

"Like I told him when he was begging me to stop, I'm barely getting warmed up. Next time I run into him while I'm in the game, I'm gonna have a field day until he gives up and logs out." She returned her attention to the screens and found one centered on Khalilah. Three of the Decepticon defectors had just arrived on the scene to bring Khalilah back to the base for repairs.

"It's still burning through her," one of them muttered. "Slower than before, but it hasn't stopped."

"You'd better cut it out, then," Khalilah said. "Before it melts through something vital. Just core it like an apple."

"Ratchet and Knockout should be able to handle that." One of the Vehicons slid his arms under her. "They have all the tools they need to …"

One of the other defectors appeared to notice something off-camera and spun toward it. On another screen, one of the men in powered armor aimed his cannon at Arcee's back - and she hadn't noticed him. The Vehicon darted behind her, then just stood there and waited, shielding her with his own body. She glanced over her shoulder at him, gasped, and grabbed his arm. She yanked him to the side just as the MECH guy fired, and the projectile grazed his shoulder and ricocheted into the sky.

Arcee turned toward the dude in the powered armor, snarled, and charged him. He and several of his buddies opened fire on her. She leaped and darted back and forth and dodged all of the shots before cocking her right leg back and punting the guy who'd shot at her straight into a stack of shipping crates. He slammed into them hard enough to scrape them across the ground and leave a dent when he collapsed. Arcee plucked her scaled-up, lever-action shotguns off her hips and pointed them at the others.

"I'm ready to accept your surrender." When they hesitated, she added, "In case you're wondering, the ammo in these will punch through your armor and turn you into clouds of red mist. Khalilah still has a chance to survive. _You won't_."

In the feed from Arcee's optics, the men inside the powered armor held their hands up to the windows, opened their canopies, and released their seatbelts. They climbed out, dropped to their knees, and placed their hands on their heads.

"Smart choice. Tomoko, we need to make sure they don't go anywhere."

Tomoko scurried over on her spider legs. "Stretch out on the ground, guys."

They flicked a few nervous glances at each other, looked back to Arcee's huge shotguns, and laid face-down before putting their hands back on their heads. Tomoko launched a glob of webbing at each, pinning them to the ground. They struggled for a few seconds, then gave up.

"Thanks." Arcee grinned.

Tomoko beamed, scampered back to Khalilah and the others, and kept watch for more enemy troops while they carried Khalilah toward the still-open ground-bridge vortex.

"What the hell, Bilby?" one of the Vehicons muttered, pointing at the wound on his shoulder. "You could've just pushed her out of the way. Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed?"

Bilby shrugged, but didn't answer.

"I'll take out their vehicles so they can't be used to escape or attack us." Elita swept her optics over the base, settled on a set of armored vehicles that resembled SWAT tanks, and stormed off toward them.

"Once they realize they have no means of escaping," Optimus said, "perhaps they will surrender."

"We'll see." Elita stomped up to the nearest of the SWAT tanks and pointed her cannon at it.

The door swung open and a human leaped out with hands raised. Sierra squinted at the screen. _Miko?_

"Wait! Don't shoot! It's us! Uh, the people who were kidnapped, I mean. We're all right here!

The image on Optimus's feed spun as he turned toward them. Elita's optics opened wide, her jaw dropped, and she snapped her gun down toward the pavement.

"You could've done that _before_ I was a split-second from pulling the trigger!"

"I wasn't thinking. Heat of the moment, y'know?" Miko glanced around. "Besides, we were kinda worried about getting _shot_ if we poked our heads out."

Sierra glanced over at Miko's mother and host parents. All of them slumped over and let out long sighs of relief. Natsumi broke into a huge grin while tears streamed down her cheeks. Roderick and Camille hugged and then he reached over to put a hand on Natsumi's shoulder.

Elita shook her head and glanced around at the vehicles. "My scans are picking up human life signs in some of those. Are they all friendlies?"

"Yeah, we got out of our cell, found our way outside, and piled into these mini-tank thingies. Figured we'd at least have some armor around us, that way."

"Colonel McKenna," Optimus said, "we have found the hostages. They are outside."

"Copy that. We'll escort them off the battlefield and then mop up the MECH personnel."

"Is Raf alright?" Tomoko said in a hushed tone, as if dreading the answer.

"Right here." Raf poked his head out from behind Miko, spotted Tomoko on the far end of the base, and waved. "I'm okay. We're all okay."

"That's _such_ a relief! I was _so_ scared!" Tomoko waved back and then grinned toward one of the buildings. "Miko, I'm in there with the team, and we've brought your armor."

Miko's grin turned predatory. " _Sweet_."

* * *

"I don't suppose this is the part where you guys put your guns down and come along quietly?" Ashanti peeked around the corner and waited for the MECH troops' answer. When they opened fire, she ducked back under cover with a long sigh. "Didn't think so."

Jack winced as the hail of bullets blasted chunks out of the walls around him. The six MECH guys ducked back through the doorway at the end of the hall, and Jack had to fight the urge to charge after them. For all he knew, these guys could've developed ammo that would not only drill clean through his armor, but also kill Rosalina and the other Pretenders.

He glanced over his shoulder at the bullet holes in the wall behind him, and found flames dancing around each one. _Shit. Yep, that looks like the same kind of ammo the mech suits are using._

"There's no back door," Arcee shouted. "You're trapped in there. Why don't you make things easier on yourselves and come out with your hands on your heads?"

The only reply was another burst of gunfire. Ashanti sighed again and plucked a grenade from her belt.

"Don't say we didn't warn you." She pulled the pin and chucked it through the doorway. The grenade bounced and rolled across the floor, and the people inside screamed and erupted into the hallway.

Tomoko grinned and pinned four of them to the walls before the remaining two regained their senses and strafed her. She squeaked and ducked back around the corner just as Ashanti's grenade blew.

"You're hit," DeeDee Washington said after noticing a wound on Tomoko's back.

"I know. It _hurts_!" Tomoko grimaced and leaned against the wall. "I'm glad this body is just a mobile platform I'm remote controlling, because I can feel it burning through my guts. It must be the same kind of ammo they hit Khalilah with."

"We'll have to get a sample of it so we can develop a way to counteract it, in case anyone else gets their hands on it."

Rosalina suddenly lunged into the open and charged the nearer of the two remaining MECH troops. They turned to cover her with their rifles, and she jumped to the left, putting one of them between her and the other. At the same moment, Ashanti fired a quick burst from her rifle into the wall to distract him. He flinched and shifted his aim to her, giving Roz the opening she needed. She ripped the gun from his hands, grabbed the front of his tactical vest, and lifted him off the floor.

"I won't ask twice. Where is Sokolov?"

"Or what? You'll kill me?" He sneered, pulled a grenade from his vest and yanked the pin out. "I'll take you with me!"

Roz clamped her free hand over his, pinning his fingers to the grenade, holding the lever down and preventing it from arming. The guy tried to shake his hand out of her grip, but she bore down until the bones in his fingers crunched and he screamed. She pried the grenade from his hand and tossed it casually through the doorway.

The other man turned and bolted. Ashanti stepped out into the hallway and raised her rifle as the grenade detonated.

"Side," she snapped, and Roz stepped over to the wall, giving Ashanti a clear shot. She popped a single round between the man's shoulder blades and he pitched forward and sprawled face-down.

"That was your only chance," Roz said to her captive. She clamped her hands onto the sides of his head, snapped his neck, and turned to the immobilized men before he hit the floor.

"Jesus," one of them whispered. Roz studied him for a few seconds, walked up to him, and traced a sharp fingertip slowly over his throat.

"I won't ask twice. Where is Sokolov?"

The guy to her right tried to sneer at her. "What's it to you, _alien_?"

She turned her glowing red optics on him and let them drill into his eyes for a moment. "He kidnapped and threatened to kill _my husband and our son_." She turned slowly back to the other man and raised her finger to his eye, moving the pointed tip closer and closer. He whimpered and shat his pants.

"That was your only chance."

"Wait!" He squeezed his eyes shut, tried to turn his head away, and sobbed. "He's in the main bunker! Underground, I mean! On the north side of the base! It's where the command center is. He headed there when your attack started."

Roz smirked and pulled her hand back. She glanced at Tomoko, still grimacing and shuddering in pain, and picked up the rifle dropped by the man she'd killed. She grabbed the spare magazines from his belt and handed one to Ashanti before slipping the others into a pocket.

"Our labs can analyze these and see if they can come up with a defense." Roz pointed the gun at the guy's head and added, "If you're lying to me, I'll come back here and show you how it feels to burn to death from the inside out."

"It's the truth, I swear!" He sobbed again. "I'm not lying, I swear! _Please don't kill me!_ "

Roz walked back to Ashanti. "Let's get the civilians out of here and then finish taking out the trash."

"My thoughts exactly." Ashanti spoke into her radio. "Optimus, did you guys hear all that?"

"We did. Some of us are near your position. Where exactly are you?"

"Fourth floor, near the southeast corner."

"We can expedite your exit from the building. Alert me if I am too close to your position."

"Uh … okay."

The building shook suddenly and everyone staggered. Rumbling and tearing and snapping sounds grew louder until the wall a few yards away cracked and then exploded. Jack caught a glimpse of a hand bigger than his entire body before a shower of debris obscured it.

"That's just about right." Ashanti let out a quick laugh before walking over to the hole as Optimus carefully pulled his hand back. "Thank you, sir."

Jack and Arcee glanced at each other and grinned before joining the rest of the team at the new opening in the side of the building. He found Optimus holding his hands up, cupping them just below the opening. Ashanti waved the others ahead, and several of her team members made their way out into his palms. He lowered them gently to the ground while Arcee stepped up to the opening. Jack and his mom waited for Arcee to grasp each of them gently in her hands while her mini-me climbed down the outside wall. Arcee backed away to let Tomoko pick up the remaining squad members.

Jack glanced around, spotted Optimus's and Elita's Pretender bodies emerging from another building, then found the SWAT tanks and strode off toward them.

"Let's get our friends out of here."

* * *

"This is it, everybody." Miko watched several of Elita's squad cover Strika while she made her way to the former hostages and transformed back into her cargo-helicopter mode. At the same time, Jack, June, Roz, and Ashanti's team sprinted over to the SWAT tanks. Miko waved to get the other hostages' attention and pointed at Strika. "She'll fly you all out of here."

Her dad stared at her. " _Us._ Meaning _you_ as well."

"Nope. I'm finishing this."

"Miko …"

Another pair of footsteps caught her attention and she turned around. Tomoko half jogged and half limped over to her and held out a big duffel bag.

"I brought your armor."

"Oh, thanks! This is exactly what I need." Miko noticed Tomoko's wounds. They looked like bullet holes, but the edges glowed white-hot and melted metal dripped from them - just like what had happened to Khalilah. "What the hell happened to you?"

"It's the ammo they're using. Must be something they developed recently. It's burning through me from the inside out." She shrugged. "Well, not _me_ , just this body. I'm actually okay, so far. Just try not to let them hit you." Tomoko noticed something behind Miko, grinned, and bolted. "Raf!"

"Hey." He started to put his arms around her, but she waved him off.

"Don't touch these bullet holes. Whatever this stuff is, I don't want it spreading onto your armor." She held both of his hands. "I'm glad to see you're okay."

"You need to hurry," Strika said. "If any of their shells hit me, I may not be able to carry you back to the base."

"Off you go." Miko climbed back into the SWAT tank she'd stolen.

"Miko, you need to come with us," her dad said.

"I'll keep 'em too distracted to fire any shots at you." Miko hurriedly put her armor on and sealed the helmet.

Her father glanced at the team, grimaced, and climbed into the passenger seat. "Not without me."

"Dad …"

"I'm not taking orders from my daughter. If you want to do this, I'm going with you."

 _Heh. First time we've done anything together in years._ "Okay, but don't forget I'm wearing armor and you're not. If anyone shoots at us while we're on foot, use me as cover."

She glanced to the left and found everyone except Roz, Lucas, and Bobby onboard Strika.

"Get Bobby out of here," Rosalina said. "I need to make sure these bastards never hurt either of you again."

"What about you, Mommy?" Bobby stared up at her and his lower lip quivered.

"I'll catch up with you later." She crouched and put her arms around him. "I need you to go with Daddy. I'll see you soon. First, though, there's something Mommy needs to do."

He took a slow breath, then grinned. "Kick their asses!"

"Will do." She grinned back, stood, and kissed Lucas. "I love you both. See you soon."

"I love you, too." He held her hand while backing toward the door, letting go only when he was too far away to remain in contact.

"Finally," Strika muttered as she closed her doors and spun up her rotors.

"Cover her," Elita ordered her team, and all of them opened fire on the remaining powered-armor troops, vehicles, and other MECH personnel to keep their attention on them and off Strika.

"Okay, Dad." Miko started the engine and stepped on the gas. "Let's fuck some shit up."

"Uh …" He gulped, took a slow breath, and braced his hands on the dashboard. "Sure."

She turned the wheel slowly, getting a feel for how the vehicle handled, and then steered toward the last dozen or so mech-suit troops scattered around the compound. She put her hand on the joystick and moved the crosshairs onto the nearest one, who'd just noticed her and started to turn around. She squeezed the trigger and a rapid thumping sound on the roof rattled the whole vehicle. Holes popped open all over the powered armor and the edges of each started to melt away. The guy inside tried to lurch away, but she continued firing until several rounds tore through the suit's left knee joint and it toppled over.

The rest of the mech suits turned toward her, the drivers noticed the one she'd taken down, and scattered.

In her HUD, a building on the far side of the base was highlighted. Ashanti's voice came through her helmet speakers.

"That's where we're heading. Try to keep keep your fire away from it."

"Got it. Have fun." Miko spotted a Humvee roaring out of the nearer hanger. Several jets farther inside were already in flaming pieces, probably taken out by Elita or one of her teammates. A guy in a MECH uniform leaned out the window and aimed an RPG straight at Miko.

She centered her crosshairs on the Humvee and pressed the red button on the left just to see what it would do. She kept her finger on the trigger in case nothing happened. A rocket streaked from the roof-mounted launcher and ripped the Humvee's engine and front tires to shreds. The guy hanging out the window tried to throw himself clear and just kind of flopped over the side and tumbled to the ground.

Miko turned toward the warehouse past the hangar and noted the trucks, crates, and barrels stored inside. "Oh, that looks important." She stomped on the gas and surged through the huge doors on the front of the warehouse. She zoomed in on one of the barrels and arched an eyebrow at its label. "Huh. Quinitricetyline. Whatever the hell that is."

"Sounds like it might be rocket fuel," her dad said. "Or maybe an explosive."

"Something used in those new bullets of theirs, maybe." Miko turned around and accelerated away from the warehouse, then turned back and spoke into her mic. "Everybody, get clear of the building in front of me. I'm gonna blow up some of their stuff, and I have no idea how big the boom will be."

"Understood," Arcee replied. The blips in Miko's HUD moved away from her position. When they reached what she _hoped_ was a safe distance, she put her thumb on the red button.

"I'm lighting it up." She fired a rocket straight into the stack of barrels.

The entire warehouse became a fireball. Miko had just enough time to suck in a breath before the concussion slammed into her tank and scooted it backward.

"Holy _shit_!" Arcee shouted.

The mini-tank turned sideways and continued sliding until it flipped onto its side. She found herself pressed against the door and her father on top of her.

"Miko," June called out. "Are you okay? I'm watching your pulse here, and …"

"I'm fine, I think." She shook her head and pushed her dad into an upright position. He stumbled, stepped on her, and quickly moved his foot off. "That was a big boom. That was, like, a _Mythbusters_ -quality kaboom."

"I dunno what you did," Arcee muttered, "but you _vaporized_ the whole building. Shrapnel and flaming liquid shot all over the base and is setting other stuff on fire." She grunted and Miko noticed faint scraping sounds, as if she were pushing herself up from a prone position. Maybe the shockwave had knocked her flat.

"Fuck me. Did you get caught in the blast?"

"Just the concussion. We're all fine, otherwise."

"Did Strika get clear before …?"

"Yeah, she's almost at the ground-bridge coordinates."

"Good." Miko sighed and shifted around in her seat. "If someone could tip us back upright …"

"Miko," her father whispered, and she glanced up to find him staring up at the door. "All I can see through this window is fire."

She stared through the narrow windshield slits and saw nothing but flames.

"Uh … guys, are _we_ burning?"

"Yeah," Arcee said. "Miko, your vehicle got _drenched_ in whatever that liquid is. It's engulfed in flames."

Her heart pounded even harder. "Are there any fire extinguishers nearby?"

"We're looking."

"Okay. Is the _entire_ tank on fire? Do we have enough maneuvering room to open one of the doors and jump out?"

"No, every inch of that thing is burning. If you open the door, you'll let the fire in. If you try to climb out, you'll get that flaming gunk on you and we have no idea if we'll be able to put it out."

"Fire extinguishers might not even work on this crap, then." Miko glanced at her father and noticed sweat dripping down his forehead and cheeks. She checked the temperature in her HUD and took a moment to get her breathing under control. "It's heating up in here. Shit, if we try to get out, we'll fry ourselves to a crisp, and if we don't get out, we'll be baked like a turducken."

"Sit tight, Miko!" Bulkhead's voice, all of a sudden. "I'm with Ashanti's team in the bunker, but I'm on the way back. And I've got a fire extinguisher!"

"Hurry, bud." Miko watched the temperature gage rising slowly and hoped he'd make it in time.

And hoped the fire extinguisher would actually _work_.


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's note: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter posted. My work schedule changed and left me with little free time until I finally had a few days off, plus the usual everyday-life stuff has been getting in the way even more than usual. Still, I'm gonna keep at it until the story's finished, and I'm pretty sure it won't take another six months like it usually does._

* * *

"No," Natsumi whispered, covering her mouth with both hands and staring at the bank of monitors. Tears trickled from her wide eyes. "Oh, _no_ …"

"I knew it." One of Camille's hands gripped the arm of the sofa and the other clenched into a trembling fist. "I _knew_ she was going to get herself killed!"

 _I'm about to watch one of my friends die._ Sierra shook her head slowly and tried to process what she was seeing. _This can't be happening._

"It's not working!" On one of the screens, Bulkhead's human-size body hosed the burning SWAT tank down with a fire extinguisher. "It's putting some of the flames out, but the metal is still melting away."

"We've got to think of something else," Tomoko shouted. "What about sand? If we cover it with sand, that should smother the fire."

"The ground here is paved over," Miko said, "and outside the base it's packed too hard. I dunno how you'd carry enough in before it's too late, anyway."

Sierra pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. _Once it melts through, Miko might be able to survive long enough to get clear, but her dad's not wearing armor. If that molten metal gets all over him …_

"And if we try to blast through the pavement to get to the sand underneath," Arcee said, "hitting the ground too close to the tank could kill both of them, now that its armor has softened. And … shit, it would take too long, anyway."

"I think I have an idea," Raf said. "Miko, can you tell if the side under you is burning? It's flat against the ground, so …"

"Hold on." After a few seconds, Miko said, "It's not as hot as the rest. Maybe it didn't get spattered with as much of whatever that crap is."

"Good. Guys, grab something to lift the tank upright. I dunno, a piece of one of those blown-up planes, or something. See if you can use something to push it up. Then Miko can open the door and jump out with her dad. I _hope_."

"And that gives _me_ an idea," Miko said as the nearby 'Bots ran off in search of a useable piece of debris. "Dad, get in front of me. When they flip us over, I'm gonna kick the door open and fire my thrusters. That should get us clear before we can be burned too badly. Just tuck your legs and head so you won't bump 'em on the doorway. I'll keep a tight grip on you."

"Are you sure you can hold on?"

"This armor's got servos that increase my strength. Yeah, it won't be a problem."

"Hurry," Camille and Roderick whispered at the same time. He reached out to clasp her hand and added, "Come on. Come _on_."

Optimus tried to slide a jet wing under the tank. The vehicle scooted back and its underside started to buckle. Elita ran up to it with a long pipe and pressed the end against the roof. She pushed gently, then increased the pressure once the roof held up. Optimus shoved the wing under the tank the instant the gap was wide enough. The roof bent inward and Elita yanked the pipe back before it could poke through.

"Miko, are you ready?" Optimus gripped the edge of the wing in both hands and waited for her reply.

"We're in position. Let 'er rip."

 _Come on._ Sierra leaned forward and glanced over at the monitor showing the feed from Optimus's optics. He pried the vehicle up until it rolled onto its partially melted wheels. The underside buckled a little more, tilting the less-damaged side into a slight upward angle.

Natsumi sobbed and her whole body trembled.

The door burst open and Miko rocketed through, her arms clamped around her father, who had curled into a fetal position. They shot past Optimus and the image on the screen whipped around to track them, getting them centered just as they hit the pavement and skidded several more yards before finally stopping. Miko pushed herself up and leaned over her father.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I think so," he muttered. He sat up slowly, holding a hand against his forehead. Blood seeped out from under his palm. "I'm scraped up pretty badly, but I'll survive. Thank you." He smiled and put his free arm around her.

"Glad you're in one piece, Dad." She put her arms around him and glanced up at the 'Bots. "He needs to get to the hospital. Can one of you give him a lift?"

"I'm on my way," Ratchet said over the comm. "I've just gone through the ground bridge and will be there momentarily."

"Understood." Optimus turned around a few seconds before an ambulance smashed through the perimeter fence and roared across the compound. It stopped nearby and the passenger-side door opened.

"Can you walk?" Miko slipped a hand under her father's arm.

"Yes, I think so." He let her help him to his feet. "Miko, come back with me."

"I told you, I'm finishing this." Miko pointed at the blood running down his face. "Go get that patched up before _all_ of it leaks out. Don't worry, I've got this."

"Yes," Natsumi whispered. "She can do this. Let her go."

He stared at her for several seconds and finally seemed to realize there was no talking her out of it. He hugged her again and released a long sigh.

"Just come back to us alive and well when it's over."

"I will. See you soon." She watched as he climbed into Ratchet and they sped away.

"Natsumi," her father said softly, "if you can hear me, I'll just need some stitches. Stay where you are and keep an eye on our girl."

"I will," Natsumi whispered back, wiping her sweaty palms on her pants but smiling at the same time.

Miko turned to the building Colonel McKenna had highlighted in her HUD. "Okay, then. Let's go get that sonofabitch."

* * *

"We're going in," Ashanti said softly, backing away from the door and holding up a detonator. Jack took a few steps back along with everyone else, and waited. The team had split into groups to enter the building from all four sides and the roof, while the full-size 'Bots finished neutralizing the last of the MECH troops. Luckily, Tomoko had already immobilized most of them with her webbing, leaving only a small handful to mop up.

"Breaching in three … two … one." Ashanti pressed the button and the charge she'd placed blew the door off its hinges. Four other charges went off at the same time. Ashanti led the others into a hallway, kicked open the first door on the left, and moved on when she found the room empty. Chang took the door on the right and moved on to the next.

Jack glanced over his shoulder at the SWAT tank Miko and her father had just escaped from, and found it collapsing in on itself. What was left of it still glowed red hot. He shivered.

"What the hell _is_ that stuff, anyway?" he muttered.

"It's like thermite on fuckin' steroids," Miko said.

Kefira glanced at the vehicle and shrugged before following the rest of the team. From the way she moved, she appeared to have adjusted quickly to her cybernetic legs. She'd chosen a set of interchangeable limbs, and currently wore a pair of standard legs that her armor could fit around.

"I hope we can find more of it to analyze, or find the formula in one of the computers," she said. "We'll need to develop a way to neutralize it in case MECH has more of it in another base."

Outside, Tomoko grunted. "That's it. I had to disconnect my mini-me. That stuff melted through too many parts and it kinda snapped in half."

"We'll build you a new one ASAP," DeeDee said. "Thanks for all the help outside, though. We'll take it from here."

"Just be careful, all of you. We have no idea what _else_ they might have up their sleeves."

"Copy that. See you on the way out." Ashanti led everyone deeper into the building. They spent the next few minutes kicking doors down and finding nothing but empty rooms. Arcee pivoted, sweeping her optics over the walls, ceiling, and floor, and shook her head.

"I'm still not picking up any life signs. Either all of 'em were already fighting us outside, or some are in the underground bunker."

"I'll take a look at any computers we find," Raf said. "Maybe we'll get lucky and find the formula for the stuff they're using in their ammo."

"See if you can get your hands on any footage from whatever cameras they've set up in here. If Sokolov didn't think to turn them off or wipe their drives, maybe we can use them to track his movements."

"Good idea."

They continued on in silence for a few more minutes before Ashanti found a server room and waved Raf and DeeDee into it. Jack glanced at his mom while they each grabbed a computer and went to work.

"How're you holding up?"

"I guess it hasn't really started to sink in yet." She shrugged. "Not completely. I'm kind of shocked at some of the things I did, though."

"You were protecting your son and his girlfriend," Rosalina said over the comms. "And the things you did will pale in comparison if I ever get my hands on Sokolov."

"Yeah. I'm actually afraid of what I might do if I find myself face-to-face with him."

"Just save a piece of Suckadick for me," Miko said. "I owe him a kick to the nuts, at the very least."

"We'll keep that in mind." Ashanti chuckled and turned back to Raf and DeeDee. "Got anything yet?"

"Most of the files are encrypted," Raf said. "We'll have to poke around a little to find out if anything's set to delete if unauthorized people try to access it."

"I did find the security-camera files," DeeDee added. "Going through them now."

"Good. Let us know when you find Sokolov. Raf, if you can't bypass whatever countermeasures they set up, we can always call in a whole team of hackers from the base and see what they can do with the servers."

"Sounds good. I'd love to try out the software suite that came with my armor, but I'd rather not be the one who lost all the data by poking a stick into the wrong place."

"Found him," Double-D blurted. "A camera caught him entering a hatch a few minutes ago. I bet the hatch leads into the bunker."

"The bunker we were in didn't have a hatch like that one," Miko said, "but if this one's the command center, it makes sense that it'd have extra stuff protecting it."

"I backtracked Sokolov to the side entrance he used to slip into the building." DeeDee grinned. "I'll know exactly where he is in the bunker, _and_ the exact path he took, in a moment."

"Copy that. Send the info to all team members once you have it." Ashanti smiled grimly and glanced around at everyone before her eyes settled on Roz. "We should try to capture Sokolov so he can be questioned, but …"

"Sorry, Colonel, but if I get my hands on him, he's as good as dead."

"I understand. When I found the bastard who killed my husband, I blew his fucking brains out. If we'd had a kid who was in any danger from Sokolov, I'd do the same to that evil bastard."

Arcee nodded. "We could've gotten a ton of intel from Starscream's base out in the desert, but once I found out what they did to Jack, there was no way I'd do anything except blow up the entire base."

"Thanks, guys." Roz managed a shaky smile. "I'm relieved to know the actions I might take won't put me at odds with you."

"Well," Ashanti said with a smirk, "General Volkov _did_ advise us to take him out if we have the opportunity. Like Jack and Arcee said about Airachnid, sometimes you gotta put the rabid dog down."

"We still have Silas, anyway," Chang said. "Sooner or later we'll get him to talk, and he should know even more than Sokolov about MECH's operations."

"Got him," Double-D muttered. "Sending the info to everyone's HUDs."

"I have a few ideas about questioning Silas." June wrung her hands as everyone turned back to the door. "I'll talk them over with you when we're back at the base."

"Looking forward to hearing them." Ashanti gripped her rifle and strode into the hallway. "Let's wrap this up."

* * *

"Anyone picking up any other life signs?" Ashanti glanced around at her whole team. Everyone had made their way to the lowest level of the underground bunker without encountering resistance and converged on the last hatch Sokolov had passed through.

"Just the one," Arcee said, and the other 'Bots and Pretenders nodded.

"Same here," Rosalina said. "Looks like he sent all of his mooks out to fight us while he ran away like a pussy."

Ashanti nodded and turned to DeeDee. "Double-D, run a bypass."

"On it, boss." She darted over to the keypad beside the hatch, pried it off, pulled a tiny device from a pocket, and connected it to the lock's innards. Everyone stepped to the sides to stay out of the line of fire and aimed their weapons at the door while waiting for Washington to finish unlocking the hatch.

A hefty _clunk_ shook the walls, ceiling, and floor, and the hatch swung outward. Ashanti waited for a hail of bullets to spray through the opening. When nothing happened, she charged through, moved aside, and swept the hexagonal, console- and monitor-packed room, and found Sokolov ducking through another hatch on the far side.

He spun toward her and snapped a rifle up.

"Gun!" Ashanti fired a quick burst from her thrusters, launching herself to the left and crouching behind a console as he hosed this half of the room down. In her HUD, the blips representing her team flowed into the room and scattered. In the corner of her eye, Arcee, Bulkhead, Kefira, and Chang took cover and returned fire. Ashanti glanced through the opening and guessed from his movements that he was reloading his gun.

Sokolov waited out the barrage on the other side of the hatch, then popped out just far enough to empty another magazine at them. Kefira and DeeDee poked their guns up over their consoles and blind-fired in his general direction. He ducked out of sight and reappeared once they stopped shooting.

Ashanti spotted a round object in his hand. "Grenade!"

Smirking, Sokolov pulled the pin and tossed the grenade into the center of the room.

Kefira dived over her console, rolled, and came back upright with the grenade in her hand. In one smooth motion, she pitched it straight at Sokolov. His eyes nearly popped out of his sockets and he slammed the hatch. The grenade bounced off it and rolled back toward Ashanti's team. Everyone jumped back under whatever cover they could find and Ashanti winced at the sharp _bang_ of the grenade exploding.

Once it was over, she bolted across to the hatch and tugged on its handle. Locked, of course. She turned to DeeDee.

"Get that hatch open."

A muffled roar came from the other side of the wall and the room _shook_. Everyone grabbed on to whatever was within reach and stared at the ceiling, as if expecting the whole bunker to collapse on them.

 _If he set off a self destruct or …_

The vibration faded, as did the rumbling sound.

"Uh," Bumblebee muttered over the comms, "that can't be good."

"What is it?"

"A pair of doors in the ground just opened and a rocket launched. I'm sending you the image from my optics."

A window opened in Ashanti's HUD and she watched a rocket streak across the sky. Bee zoomed in on it and she realized an armor-clad man was clinging to the side. She shook her head slowly and mumbled, "You gotta be _fucking_ kidding me."

"On the bright side," Bee continued, "I'm not detecting any explosives, nuclear or otherwise."

"It wouldn't make sense for a missile-launch system to be installed right next to the command center, anyway," Kefira said. "Any malfunction that caused the missiles to explode during launch would take out the entire command staff."

"Must be an escape system he had built in just for himself." Roz glared at the hatch. "We've lost him."

"Not yet." Ashanti stared at the rocket receding into the distance and tried not to clench her teeth. "Base, do you have anything that can intercept that missile?"

"We will in a moment," Optimus said. "I've received a message that three of our new Vehicon friends have volunteered to pursue Sokolov. Their alt-modes are jets, so they should be able to intercept him if they launch _now_."

"I'm tracking the missile," Ratchet said over the comms. "I can transport them to our base via ground-bridge, then bridge them to coordinates near the target. Stand by."

Ashanti clenched her fists as the missile grew smaller and Bee zoomed in more. Finally, a vortex opened in the air a few hundred feet from the missile and three jets shot out of it.

"Nice," Chang said. "Uh, which ones are those? I'm still getting them mixed up."

"The black one is Elvira, the red one is Sahuarita, and the red-and-chrome one is Maverick."

The image zoomed in a bit more just as the three defectors opened fire on the missile. Ashanti caught a glimpse of Sokolov leaping away and popping a parachute before one of the Vehicons hit the missile and blasted it into a cloud of debris.

An odd flash erupted from the fireball and the three jets veered off course and then plunged toward the ground.

"What the hell?" Jack shook his head and glanced around at everyone. "What was that?"

"Looked like the flashbangs we've used against the 'Cons before," Arcee muttered. "Shit, if they don't recover in time, they'll crash."

"Guys," Bee shouted, "pull up! Pull up _now_!"

Several seconds passed before the three former Decepticons rebooted and began struggling to stabilize their descent.

"Ugh," Maverick grunted. "What happened … oh, _shit_!" He managed to level out just as he reached the ground, but not soon enough to deploy his landing gear. He scraped along the desert, bounced into the air, slammed back down, and continued sliding. " _Shiiiiiiiiiiiit_!"

Elvira glanced off a mountain, plowed into the ground, and transformed back into her primary mode. She dug her feet in and clawed at the ground until she came to a stop, then she let out a long sigh and collapsed. "Crap like this is gonna give me a fear of heights."

Sahuarita panicked, transformed, and plunged straight down. She hit the ground feet-first, sending up an enormous cloud of dust and dirt, crumpled, and rolled. When she came to a stop, she lay flat on her back.

"Are all of you intact?" Optimus said, taking a few steps in their general direction.

"I think so," Elvira muttered.

"I'm in one piece," Maverick said.

"I think I fucked up my left leg," Sahuarita added, "but I'll survive."

"Good. Was anyone able to keep track of Sokolov?"

"I lost him," Bee said, and several others gave similar answers. "I guess we were distracted by the flash and the close call our friends had."

"Goddamn it," Roz whispered. Ashanti walked over and patted her shoulder.

"He won't get far. We can determine the area he'd land in, search it, and find him." She glanced at June and added, "He's not gonna mess with your kids and get away with it."

"Thanks." Roz managed a slight smile.

"Optimus, are any MECH personnel still shooting at you?"

"All of them have been captured or killed, except Sokolov."

"Understood." Ashanti sighed and took a slow look around at everyone. "We'll have a team of experts go through the computers here, UAVs and local law enforcement hunting Sokolov down, and another team removing hazardous materials like the ammo they were using and that horrifying stuff that nearly cooked off Miko and her dad. But for now, you could all use some time to unwind while we figure out our next move. Some of you were civilians until very recently, so you're not used to this shit."

"Yeah." June laughed softly. "I guess I could use some downtime."

"So could I, to be completely honest." Ashanti motioned at the outer hatch. "Let's head for the surface, and when the support teams arrive, we'll go home."


	9. Chapter 9

"It's so _quiet_ here," Miko's father said, keeping his voice barely above a whisper, as if afraid to disturb the silence.

Arcee glanced around the picnic table. Jack sat on her left, Miko and both sets of parents sat across from them, and Jack's mom was to her right. Raf was somewhere else, with his family, and Roz had wanted to spend the night with her husband and son on the base. The poor kids would probably need years of counseling after what they'd gone through.

"After being surrounded by gunfire and explosions for so long," Daisuke continued, "being flooded with adrenaline, being so frightened for so long … and now there's nothing happening and we're just sitting here. It's taking some time to adjust to."

Natsumi reached over to put her hand on his, and Miko nodded.

"Yeah. It's like watching porn _after_ you come."

Natsumi snickered and Roderick burst out laughing around a mouthful of cheeseburger. He clamped his hand over his mouth to keep it from ending up on the table. Camille stared at Miko as if she'd just farted, and Daisuke gaped at her.

"Uh … sure. Yes. Exactly like that." He shook his head, glanced around at everyone, and rolled his eyes. Arcee tried not to laugh.

 _I think that's the most emotion he's shown since they arrived a couple weeks ago._

"Hey, guys." Jensen's voice. Arcee glanced up and found him and Khalilah's mini-me walking over to the table on the left. "How're things?"

"We're glad to have some peace and quiet after everything that's happened today." June took a sip of her Sunny D as Jensen lowered himself onto the bench and slid his crutches under the table. "Khalilah, I hope your repairs are finished. Whatever they hit you with, it looked _nasty_."

"Thanks. I'll be okay. Ratchet and Knockout removed the damaged parts before that crap melted through something I can't live without. They replaced the destroyed parts and now I'm in the repair bay, just letting my autorepair systems finish the job. Should be back on my feet by morning."

"Glad to hear it."

"So was I." Jensen slipped his arm around Khalilah's waist and she leaned closer to him. "I can't even remember the last time I was that scared."

"Well, we're all glad you're still with us." Miko smiled. "Has anyone figured out what that stuff was?"

"Our labs are still working on it," Jensen said. "If our software experts can crack the encryption on those servers and find the formula, one of the labs will be able to develop a counteragent. At least, I _hope_ so."

"Me, too." Arcee stared at the darkness outside the floodlights illuminating the picnic area, and tried not to think about the way Khalilah screamed after being hit by that shell. _If they can't, it'll be_ bad _news for us the next time we tangle with MECH._ She kept the thought to herself. Everyone else had enough on their minds, already.

"Not that anyone else had an easy time of it," Khalilah said. "Before I joined you, I'd almost forgotten what it's like not to be in mortal danger every day, but for someone who's never experienced combat, it must've been _horrible_."

"Especially kids like Bobby and some of Raf's younger siblings." Jack shrugged. "When I first got caught up in all this, I didn't want _anything_ to do with it. But I got used to it after a while, so hopefully some of these kids will be able to adjust."

Daisuke flicked a glance at Miko and then turned to Natsumi. "Speaking of traumatic experiences, be thankful you weren't there to see how Miko got us out of our cells."

Miko rolled her eyes. "Oh, let _me_ tell her, in case you think you can use it as leverage." She looked over at her mother. "I tried the old 'distract the guards' trick, but it didn't turn out the way I expected it to. I got naked in front of them and tried to get 'em to unlock the cells."

Natsumi just stared at her and blinked a few times. Miko's host parents glanced at each other and then gaped at her. Miko stared at the table and sneered.

"Now that I actually have time to think about it, it's kind of humiliating. Instead of being distracted by my body, they were just irritated and wanted me to shut the fuck up. It might've had a chance of working if my tits were bigger than bee stings. As it was, if they hadn't gotten sick enough of my shit to get within arm's reach, we'd probably still be there."

Her parents continued staring for a long moment, turned to face each other, and stared some more. Miko shrugged, picked up her burrito, and took a huge bite.

Jensen grinned. "Better not mention it to Terwilliger. He already seems to have his mind on you enough as it is."

Camille scowled at him and Miko snickered.

"I _totally_ should describe it to him in explicit detail just to fan the flames." She caught the glare Camille shot at her and sighed. "Relax, I'm not gonna do anything with him, but I think it's pretty cool if he really does think about me when he jerks off."

Daisuke slumped forward and buried his face in his hands. Natsumi shook her head and then appeared to be struggling to suppress a grin.

"I dunno," Jack said, "a while ago I heard him say he's got his eye on Strika."

"Seriously?" Miko raised an eyebrow. "Huh. He must have a thing for flat-chested women. Or fembots, in Strika's case."

"I dunno about that, but he seems to think she's cute. And he said Russian accents are sexy." Jack shrugged.

"Oh, boy." June chuckled. "I don't know Strika very well, but from what I've seen, I doubt she'd be interested. She just doesn't seem like the type who'd be into that kind of thing with _anyone_."

"Yeah, I kinda got that impression." Miko shrugged. "But then, she did say she might try out some of her Pretender body's 'additional features' eventually, so maybe she'll get around to it." She grinned suddenly. "Oh, it just occurred to me - maybe Strika's just repressed from being so stoic for a few hundred thousand years, or however long she's been alive. If Terwilliger can get her to cut loose now that she has all the right parts, I bet she'd bang him like a screen door in a hurricane."

Natsumi finally burst into laughter while Daisuke grumbled something in Japanese and slumped forward even farther.

June snort-laughed. "And on that note, I guess I should hit the sack. Got an early meeting with Ashanti and her team tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah, the idea you had about getting information out of Silas." Jack raised an eyebrow as his mom scooted her chair back and stood. "What did you have in mind?"

June smirked. "I'm gonna see if I can scare the shit out of him."

* * *

"Sorry I missed the meeting." Jack yawned, took a seat at the bank of monitors, and sipped his coffee. "We were up late."

Arcee sat beside him and fired off a shit-eating grin. "It's all my fault."

"Not entirely." Jack slipped his arm around her. "I gotta take _some_ of the blame."

"Heh." Ashanti glanced at him and arched an eyebrow. "I was about to say you looked like something the cat dragged in, but …"

"Well," Miko said with an exaggeratedly innocent expression, "I'm pretty sure a 'pussy' of _some_ sort was involved."

Jack nearly choked on his coffee. He put the cup down, coughed, and his face grew hot. In the corner of his eye, Arcee grinned again.

"Welllllll … you're not wrong."

Ashanti cleared her throat, but looked as if she were trying to hide a grin of her own. "Maybe we should let you get some sleep."

"Thanks, but I'm good." He nodded at the image of Silas's cell on one of the monitors. In the cell to his right, the Pretender named Clayton waited for June to arrive, having disguised himself as Bodhi McClory. "I mean, my mom is gonna interrogate _Silas_. I wouldn't miss this for anything."

"You got here just in time, then." Ashanti turned to watch the screens. "Clay's pretending to be McClory, and June will start with him. She's gonna pretend to torture him to death, just to see if she can shake Silas up before she starts working him over."

"Whoa. That's, uh, _dark_." Jack glanced around the room. Ashanti's whole team was here, plus both sets of Miko's parents. The former smirked, grinned, or nodded, and the latter fidgeted and traded unsettled glances.

"Yep. It was Clay's idea, not your mom's, so there's no need to worry about her sanity. Kefira came up with most of the plan, though. She's had plenty of experience running operations like this."

Kefira spoke into her headset mic. "Okay, June, whenever you're ready."

June appeared on another monitor, wearing her armor and pushing a cart loaded with sharp, pointed instruments into the cell block. Strika's human-size body followed her past Silas's cell and on to "McClory's."

"Huh. You got Strika to get in on this?" Jack glanced over at Kefira.

"I figured she'd be right for this because she's intimidating."

"And sexy as all hell," Terwilliger added with a huge grin.

Camille shot a disgusted look at him, crossed her arms over her chest, and glowered at the monitors.

June started whistling another jaunty tune as she waited for Strika to unlock Clayton's cell. She kept it up as she pushed the cart into the cell and Strika locked the door and watched impassively.

"What the hell is this?" Clay backed up to the rear wall. "Why'd they let _you_ in here?"

Silas couldn't see them through the concrete wall between the cells, but he turned to stare at it anyway. For the moment, his expression remained stoic.

"Okay, June," Kefira said, "just let Clayton do all the work for a few minutes. He'll be able to mimic all sorts of cuts and slashes, and can manufacture synthetic blood to cover the implements you've wheeled in."

"Well," June said, keeping her tone light and cheerful, "since all of your buddies were killed in the attack on your base last night, some of the people I worked with here decided to give me a few minutes alone with you, purely out of the kindness of their hearts." She hardened her voice suddenly and half-snarled, half-screamed, "You and all the rest came after _my son_! I'm _not_ letting that slide."

"Oh, wow," Terwilliger muttered. "Is it just me, or was she channeling Cal Johnson for a moment, there?"

Silas remained stone-faced, even when June picked up a few of the blades and made a point of clinking them together.

"Huh." Roderick glanced at Ashanti. "How can he 'manufacture' blood?"

"The Pretenders' bodies have mini-fabricator units that make synthetic blood or sweat," Miko said. "Cum, too. But I'm sure Sierra would know more about that than I do."

 _Ohohoho, shit!_ Jack clamped his mouth shut on a laugh and kept his eyes on the monitors.

"Why aren't you in one of these cells?" Clay said. "They found out that you're an assassin. How did you …? Oh, shit, did you kill everyone in your path to get to me?"

Finally, Silas's stone-cold expression faltered. His eyes opened a little wider and his lips parted.

"Oh, nothing as dramatic as that. My son has a lot of friends here, and you've pissed them _all_ off by going after him. Of course, their anger is _nothing_ compared to mine. They gave you to me, and I'm going to send a message to what's left of your little terrorist organization. Well, assuming anyone's left at all, that is."

Kefira chuckled and spoke into her mic again. "Clay, go ahead and put on a show for Silas. And when you're putting your 'blood' on her knives and whatnot, maybe splatter some on her armor to help sell the illusion."

Clay nodded and spent the next several minutes screaming and begging June to stop, while she leaned against the wall and waited, occasionally letting a giggle slip out. Each time she did, Silas grew a little more unsettled, until he almost started pacing and forced himself to stand still. Clay's skin split open all over his face, chest, and arms, and "blood" seeped through his prison overalls. He dipped several of the blades into it before putting them back on the cart, then he picked up a knife that had part of its blade cut off. He flicked his other hand out and his fake blood sprayed across the front of June's armor. Finally, he stuck the half-knife into his neck and his "skin" closed around it, holding it in place and making the blade appear to be driven in all the way to his spine.

June snickered, then burst out laughing. Silas took a step away from the adjoining wall and his jaw dropped a little more.

"Kid, your mom has issues," Camille muttered with a glance over to Jack.

Clay winked at June, made a weird "gurgle-splat" sound, and sprawled on the floor, eyes open and mouth gaping.

"Oops," June said under her breath. "Got carried away. I was hoping this would take a lot longer."

Silas's expression didn't change, but his head twitched in the direction of her voice.

"Oh, well, on to the next one." June crouched beside Clay, dipped her hands into one of his larger wounds, and spread the blood around until she looked like she'd gone almost elbow-deep. She pondered her hands for a moment, and then smeared some of the blood on her face.

"No need to bury yourself in the part, Mom." Jack shivered.

"That's, uh … quite a performance." Roderick stared at the monitors and shook his head slowly.

Arcee nodded. "Like I said yesterday, I had _no_ idea she could pull off anything like that."

"Has she done any acting before this?"

"I think she was in a couple of school plays," Jack said, "but she was, like, seven or eight at the time."

June started whistling again, pushed the cart into the corridor, and paused in front of Silas. She cocked her head as if something had just popped into her mind, and turned back. She returned to "McClory's" cell, clamped a hand around his left ankle, and dragged his "corpse" past Silas and to the end of the corridor, whistling the entire time. Clay pumped more fake blood out and left a thick trail smeared on the floor behind him.

Silas's eyes tracked them until they were out of sight, and a muscle in his jaw twitched.

Once they reached the end of the corridor, Clay sat up and his wounds closed. He grinned, gave June a thumbs-up, and leaned against the wall. June smiled back, shook his hand, and took a moment to get back into character before walking back to Silas's cell. Once she was back in full view of Silas, she spun slowly as if practicing a ballet move.

Strika watched her return to the cart, arched a brow plate, and smirked ever so slightly.

June slid her hands slowly over her chest, let out a ragged breath, and aimed an almost _aroused_ stare at the blood on her gloves. She glanced at Strika and said, "Oh, I am _so_ double-clicking my mouse button as soon as I'm done here!"

"Holy _shit, June_!" Arcee gaped at her.

"Did _not_ need that goddamn image in my head," Jack groaned.

"And now she's thrown a bit of Deadpool into her performance," Terwilliger said. "My life is complete."

Strika stared blankly, probably because she had no idea what the hell June was talking about. Silas, meanwhile, turned from mildly perturbed to a sort of horrified "WTF?" expression.

June stared at Silas, picked up a butcher knife and a sharpening rod, and broke into a huge grin as she began scraping the blade along the rod.

"Now it's _your_ turn!"

* * *

"I know you," Silas said as Strika unlocked his cell and let June in. "You were there when I had a brief partnership with Airachnid. You seemed quite … different, then."

"Back then, I had a cover to maintain. When I found out I was pregnant, I decided to retire and give my son a normal life. Now that you keep attacking him and his girlfriend, and the people here on this base discovered who I really am, I figured I might as well get back to what I do best." She continued sharpening the knife, aimed a gleeful smile at him, and hoped she'd managed to put the same unhinged gleam in her eyes that Sokolov had. "I gotta say, I've _missed_ the killing. And the money, too. But mostly the killing."

"You expect me to believe that?" Silas laughed softly, though he couldn't completely hide his unease.

"Doesn't matter. You _will_ , soon enough."

"If you're really an assassin, why aren't you locked up?"

"I worked out a deal with the general. They're putting a leash on me, but they decided to put my talents to use, so I've got a bit of wiggle room." Some of the fake blood trickled onto her neck and she had to suppress a shiver. "Would you mind stepping over to the bars so we can get down to business?"

"Why should I?"

 _I shouldn't enjoy this, I really shouldn't, but it's gonna be_ so _satisfying._ She sighed, put the knife down, walked over to Silas, braced a hand against his chest and shoved him into the bars. The impact made him wince and let out a grunt.

"Hold your arms out behind you and put them through the bars."

"No." He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. "This isn't Guantanamo Bay. You can't torture me."

"As long as you're a threat to my son, this place will be _far_ worse than Gitmo." June glanced at Strika, motioned at Silas, and said, "Would you …?"

Strika reached through the bars, grasped his wrists, and pulled his arms through. She put a pair of heavy-duty handcuffs on him and stepped back, leaving his forearms resting on the support beam running across the middle of the bars. His smug expression faltered for a split-second before he regained his composure.

"Hmm. This is new."

"Kazimir Sokolov has been in charge of MECH since your stay in this cell began. He abducted a busload of civilians, including children, and threatened to murder them unless we turned you, my son, and Arcee over to him. It cost him his base and every last one of the people under his command, but he slipped away from us." June chuckled. "I have to admit, I'm kind of impressed with his escape plan. He launched a rocket and _rode_ it into the sky, clinging to its side, and then parachuted to the ground. I'm still gonna kill him, but I have to give credit where it's due. That was pretty awesome."

"Ah." Silas smirked again. "That's why you'll never see him, until he strikes."

"Oh, I _will_ see him again, right before I gut him like a trout with my favorite knife. I'll find him because you're going to tell me all the places he might hide. Safe houses, friends from 'work,' people he might go to for help, people who owe him favors."

"Why would I do that? Even if I believed you were capable of torturing someone, the military has rules against it. They don't have what it takes to _do_ what it takes. You won't -"

June pulled her fist back and rammed it into his gut. The air rushed from his lungs and he doubled over, held up only by his handcuffs hitting the bar. The weight of his body twisted his arms upward and nearly dislocated his shoulders before he got his legs back under him. His mouth opened as he tried to draw a breath, but couldn't. His legs turned wobbly and he almost collapsed before his lungs started working again.

"One of the benefits of being a nurse is that I know exactly where to hit you, and how hard, without leaving a mark. For now, at least." June gripped the front of his coveralls and lifted him upright. Then she stroked his cheek and jaw, smearing Clay's fake blood across his face. He tried to pull his head away and his eyes bulged. "Each time Sokolov or any of your other operatives come after Jack and Arcee, or any of our friends, I'll come back here and step it up a notch until you give me what I want. Eventually, I won't be able to avoid breaking bones."

"I can't give him orders," Silas snarled through clenched teeth. "I've been stuck _here_ all along, and haven't been allowed any outside contact."

"You're his leader. That means you're responsible for everything he does." June traced a finger over his lips and he tried to jerk away again. "And if I can't have him, I'll take it all out on _you_ , just because you're here and he's not."

"You'll have to hit me with a _lot_ to get me to tell you _anything_."

"Oh, believe me, Leland, if you don't start talking, I'll do exactly that." June stuck her finger into his mouth and he backed away until he bumped into the bars. She pushed a little deeper, _almost_ far enough to trigger his gag reflex. "Maybe next time, I'll come back right after you've had a big breakfast and make you puke. Or I could inject you with something that'll make you shit all over every inch of your cell. I've got _tons_ of new ideas I'm eager to try out just to see what happens."

She walked back to the cart and Terwilliger's voice came through her earbud. "June, you are officially the most terrifying motherfucker I've ever met. That's … kinda hot, actually."

"Not in front of her kid," Jack grumbled.

June burst into laughter and Silas stared at her. His composure crumpled a little more and he tried to take a step away from her, but the handcuffs caught on the bars again.

"Tell you what, Leland. You think it over and ask to see me if you change your mind. If you don't, then I'll just have to wait for Sokolov to make his next move. When that happens, I'll be back, and you'll be sorry." June waited for Strika to open the door and pushed the cart back outside. Strika locked the cell, removed Silas's cuffs, and followed June out of the cell block. Clay joined them, transformed back into his robotic appearance, and stuck his hands into his pockets.

"Nicely done. I don't know about Silas, but you sure scared the shit out of _me_." He laughed.

"I just hope it worked on him." June glanced at the blood all over her armor and grimaced. "Where's the nearest bathroom? I need to clean this off before it dries."

"Down that hall." Clay pointed to the left and walked with her. He stopped at a door on the right about halfway down the hall. "Here ya go."

"Thanks." June stepped through the door and walked over to the nearest wash basin. "And thanks for all your help with this."

"Glad I could be in on it. Silas and Sokolov and McClory are terrible people who need to be stopped. Also, screwing with them is just _fun_."

"Hah! Yeah, it is, kinda. I'm a little scared by how much fun I'm having with this."

"You sure have a talent for this kind of thing." He paused while she glanced into the mirror and washed off the last of the fake blood. "Hey, when you have time, maybe we could, I dunno, have a cup of coffee together?"

 _Huh. Weird. But then, I guess it's no weirder than Jack and Arcee. And I guess I kinda started this when I said he was cute. And then kissed him._ She pondered the years since Jack's birth while drying her hands. She'd had _no_ social life until the past few weeks, having devoted all her time to school and work to provide for Jack while he grew up. In fact, the last date she'd been on was just before she got knocked up, and hadn't had any time for it since.

 _Now that I finally have a chance, why the hell not?_ She stepped back into the hall and leaned casually against the door frame.

"Well, I need to sign my armor back in and debrief with Ashanti and her team, but how about after that? It'll probably be around lunchtime by then, so … meet you at one of the picnic tables outside the mess hall?"

He broke into a huge grin. "It's a date."

"Okay. See you then." She matched his grin and kept it on as she left the building and headed for the armory.


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey, Colonel." Jack smiled as Ashanti sat at the adjacent table, and Arcee waved and put her arm back around his shoulders. "Any news on Sokolov?"

"Not yet. Your mom's doing a hell of a job shaking Silas up, though. He's been a hard nut to crack, but the things she's been doing are so fucked-up that he's starting to unravel already. Shouldn't be much longer before he either caves in or gets agitated enough to let something slip."

"Glad to hear it," Arcee said. "We still need to deal with Megatron and possibly the DJD before we head off to find Unicron. There's enough on our plate without MECH and their 'newer world order' bullshit."

"My thoughts exactly. In the meantime, we're still searching for Sokolov and staking out all of his known contacts. If we don't get a breakthrough with Silas, sooner or later Sokolov will turn up anyway. I'm just hoping Silas breaks first, because the sooner the better, right?"

Everyone nodded. Ashanti glanced around at the others and picked up one of her chili-and-cheese fries. As usual, several of Jack's friends and their new Cybertronian allies had gathered for lunch. Ashanti was surprised to find Optimus's and Elita's Pretender bodies among them, seated at the far end of Jack's table, talking quietly while sampling a variety of foods and drinks, now that they had bodies capable of ingesting. Raf and Tomoko's brand new human-size doppelganger sat between them and the others, grinning and holding hands as they talked.

 _He's growing up fast._ Ashanti smiled. _It's kinda sweet, though._

"So," she said after letting another moment pass, "how're things with all of you?"

"Well, Sierra just brightened my day," Jack said with a huge grin. "Go on, tell her what you just told us."

Sierra laughed and turned to face Ashanti. "I heard about this from a friend who works at the new casino in Jasper. Vince's parents made him get a job over the summer, and he ended up working as a valet."

"Oh, Jack's favorite school bully." Ashanti arched an eyebrow. "So how did that brighten your day? Did he get fired or something?"

"Yeah, but there's more to it." Sierra giggled. "He lasted two days before he had to deal with a rude customer. I mean, a _really_ rude one. Total asshole."

"Even worse than Vince?"

"From what Sierra told us," Jack said, "this guy is probably what Vince will be when he's in his forties. Like, Vince cranked up to eleven."

Sierra nodded. "Just verbally walked all over him. Snapped at him, hurled insults, acted like his shit doesn't stink just because he has a lot of money. Vince can dish it out, but he can't take it. The guy threw his keys at him and walked on into the casino, so Vince parked the car and then … got a rather interesting kind of revenge."

Jack burst out laughing. "I never thought I'd say this, but I kinda have a grudging respect for Vince now."

"Why? What did he do?"

"He jerked off in the guy's car!" Sierra screamed with laughter and slumped over the table until she caught her breath.

"Seriously?" Ashanti's jaw dropped.

"Yep!" Sierra took a few more breaths. "Jizzed all over the steering wheel and the dashboard. Guess he thought the guy wouldn't figure out who did it. Whatever he was thinking -"

"Sounds like he _wasn't_ thinking. The very first suspect would be the valet he pissed off."

"Yeah. I'd _never_ try anything like that." Jack shook his head slowly. "I've done some stupid things, but even if it crossed my mind, my first thought would be that someone will find out what I just did."

Sierra nodded again. "It wasn't very bright, but it was funny as hell. Still, the security cameras caught the car parking and then just sitting there for several minutes before Vince got out. They put two and two together and fired Vince's ass. I imagine he's catching all kinds of hell from his parents, too, but I'm sure there's a part of him that feels like it was worth it."

"Wow." Ashanti grimaced and shook her head. "Okay, in the unlikely event of me ever needing a valet service, I'm gonna be _nothing but polite_ to them."

"Oh, me too! I already knew why you should never piss off a restaurant staff, and now I'm applying the same thing to valets."

Ashanti nodded, picked up another fry, and laughed uneasily. "Kids, these days."

* * *

"Hi, guys," June said as she approached Jack's table. He turned around, grinned, and waved.

"Hey, Mom."

One of the Pretenders waved and then offered her a cup of coffee as she took the seat across from him. "Good to see you again, June."

"You, too, Clay." She accepted the cup and put her tray down. "Thanks."

"What's new, Mom?" Jack grinned. "Got any more ideas for torturing Silas?"

"I was thinking we might have one of the fabricators crank out an empty Pretender shell without a head so I can carry it past his cell. Maybe set it up so it spurts fake blood out of the stump to make it look fresh."

Clayton burst into laughter. "And while he's staring in horror, you can turn slowly, make eye contact, and say something like, 'He was … uncooperative.'"

"Oh, I'm totally stealing that! Thanks!"

"Wow, Mom, you're having too much fun with this."

"I have to admit I'm starting to worry about my sanity, but yeah, I'm enjoying it. Maybe it's because Silas came closer to getting you and Arcee killed than I want to think about. It's just really satisfying to fill _him_ with terror, for a change." June shrugged and glanced over at Ashanti. "And I've been thinking … if I'm going to be more involved in the action, I should start training. Combat stuff, I mean. Weapons, hand-to-hand, and whatnot."

"You sure?"

"Well, I've already been in a few situations where I needed to defend myself and couldn't. And during this whole thing, Roz had my back by linking up with my armor and remote-controlling it, but if something interrupted the connection, I'd be left flapping in the wind."

"Okay, but you're really planning to keep getting in on the action?"

June thought it over, as she already had a few dozen times since waking up this morning, and nodded slowly. "I've seen how killers like Airachnid have gone after Jack, and now that MECH is doing the same, I understand it'll keep happening even if he _wanted_ to stay out of the fight. Another possibility I have to consider is that they might come after me to get to him, so the more able to defend myself I am, the better off we'll both be. So, yeah, I need to learn how to fight, especially if I'm going to keep going on missions with the rest of the team. I don't want to be stuck on the sidelines, waiting for someone to be wounded before I go charging in, and I don't want to be a load. I want to be right there with everyone else, so I can help wherever it's needed."

"Just what I need," Jack said with a nervous chuckle, "someone else to worry about during a fight."

"Now you know how I feel, kiddo." June reached over and ruffled his hair.

"Okay, then." Ashanti smiled. "We can head for the shooting range after lunch and I can start getting you used to the weapons we usually take on missions while the fabricator builds the headless body. Then, once you're done with Silas, we can start on a little hand-to-hand training. If you want to keep going after that, then we can get you started learning the thrusters in your armor. You did pretty good in a pinch, but you still need to know the system's capabilities and weaknesses."

"Sounds fun." June raised her coffee as if making a toast and tried not to look as nervous as she suddenly felt. _Hoo, boy, I hope I'm not getting in over my head._

* * *

"This is nice," Raf said softly, smiling as he finished his lunch and intertwined his fingers between Tomoko's. "I wouldn't mind having more afternoons like this, especially after what we just went through."

"Same here." She smiled back. "I'm so relieved that everyone got through it in one piece. Especially you. When you were missing and we didn't know if you were okay or not … well, I've never been so afraid."

"Really?" He stared at her. "Come on, there had to be things that scared you more."

"Well … just once, when Airachnid tried to kill me and use my body parts a few seconds after I was 'born.' This was just as bad."

"Oh …" _What do I even say to that?_

"Just try not to do that to me again." She held his hand between both of hers.

"I'll do my best." He patted the back of her hand and took a quick look around, not knowing what else to say and hoping to find a way to avoid an awkward silence. The changes he'd started noticing in his body had been making life awkward enough as it was. At least he had some idea of what to expect from things he'd heard adults say about puberty, and from his own research, but it'd probably be a bumpy ride anyway. Even if he managed to navigate his way through it, a few things were already making it hard for him to focus.

Weird, though, how he'd thought girls were "icky" not that long ago, and now he couldn't help noticing how attractive so many of the women around him were.

Especially Tomoko.

 _Find something else to think about before you pop a boner and someone notices it._

"What's this one?" Elita-1 said, and Raf glanced over to find her holding up a bottle and staring at the label. "Four Loko?"

"Harvey Terwilliger told me that one of his friends gave him a case of that beverage, and he has been passing them around to others. This morning he convinced Strika to try one. She found it quite unpleasant. Which may be why he is attempting to give them away rather than consume them himself."

"Hmm." Elita shrugged, twisted the cap off, and took a swig. She grimaced and put the bottle down. " _Ugh_ , that's disgusting! Maybe I'll use the bottle for target practice later. I'd consider it a fitting punishment for such a vile substance."

Raf chuckled, remembering the time a couple of his brothers tried the same stuff and found it just as revolting.

"At least it's far less unpleasant than a lot of the things we've experienced in the past few thousand years," Elita said.

"Yes. Particularly the events of yesterday."

"And we're back to that again." She shook her head and studied the tray in front of her, pondering what to sample next.

"I am not attempting to start an argument. I am, however, concerned about your behavior in the battle. You were not so cold and ruthless the last time we saw one another."

"That was a _very_ long time ago, Optimus. A lot has changed over the millennia. A lot of hope has been lost. Nearly _all_ of it." Elita turned slightly and stared off into the distance. "Our homeworld is long dead. There's nothing left to fight for except each other, so it's my duty to protect those who fight alongside me as much as it is to neutralize the enemy. As small and fragile as those humans were, they demonstrated the capacity to severely damage us. If that projectile had struck any closer to Khalilah's spark chamber, it would've killed her. They were a clear and present danger, and I felt they should be dealt with accordingly."

"Being so quick to resort to lethal force is what made the Decepticons what they are."

Elita's head twitched back toward him and her optics drilled into him for a few seconds. When she spoke, her voice was quiet but intense.

" _Don't_. Don't _ever_ compare me to those _monsters_ when I was only trying to prevent more of us from being killed. There are so few of us left."

He held a hand up. "I apologize. That wasn't my intent."

"It's not that I don't understand where you're coming from." She leaned forward, braced her arms on the table, shook her head slowly, and finally raised her optics to meet his gaze. "But has it ever occurred to you that your refusal to take decisive action prolonged the war and led to more casualties than we would've had otherwise?"

"It has." He winced and turned away. "Many times."

 _Oh, wow._ Raf glanced at Tomoko and wondered if she was as uncomfortable as he suddenly felt. _That's probably a conversation they should be having in private._

"I have doubted many of my decisions at one time or another," Optimus continued. "Perhaps I am sometimes too reluctant to do what truly needs to be done, but I have too much fear of what we may become if we go down that path. If, each time we simply kill our enemies, it becomes easier to do so …"

"You do have a point. It has become _very_ easy over the centuries."

"There is more. Wheeljack mentioned your … collection."

 _Collection?_ In the corner of Raf's eye, he caught the alarmed look crossing Tomoko's face, and figured they were both thinking the same thing. _Last time we heard about a Cybertronian keeping a "collection" was when Airachnid cut off the heads of her victims and put them in display cases._

"What about it?" Elita narrowed her optics.

"I found the news rather … unsettling. Taking trophies is not something the Elita I remember would do."

"Some of them have their uses, like Dreadwing's cannon. Others …" Elita shrugged. "Maybe it's a way of keeping score. Sometimes it's a personal reminder of my victories and the avenging of fallen friends. Sometimes I carry them into battle so the enemy can see them. If I'm not mistaken, humans would call it psychological warfare."

 _Fair enough, I guess._ Raf couldn't help thinking back to Starscream's near-panicked reaction when he saw her carrying that cannon and she implied that she'd killed Dreadwing before taking it. Whoever Dreadwing was …

Elita sighed, reached across the table, and laid a hand over Optimus's. "As I said, you have a point. Seeing how Strika, of all people, changed her mind about the war and proved herself a worthy ally, and then seeing so many former enemies fighting side by side with us here, has made me wonder how many potential allies I've gunned down without mercy. How many of them may have been willing to surrender or join us if I'd only given them the chance?"

"And I wonder how much suffering could have been avoided if I had taken Megatron out long ago. I was so certain for so long that he would finally see reason and stand down. I've been told that I gave him more chances than he deserved, and after seeing how the war turned out …"

"Someone else would've taken his place. Starscream spent so much time trying to usurp him, and Soundwave was always completely loyal to Megatron. One of them would've taken over. And then someone else would've filled the gap if we took them out."

"Perhaps."

"There's never an easy solution for these things." Elita glanced back to the table, picked out a different flavor of Four Loko, and opened it. "On another matter, we should keep an eye on Bilby. When he rescued Arcee during our battle with MECH, he could've just pushed her out of the line of fire, but instead, he put himself between her and the enemy and just stood there. It's possible he's looking for a way to die in combat. I've seen this happen before, and I've seen people take others with them when they finally go off."

"As have I. He could feel guilty for something he did during the war, or simply for surviving. I will speak with him and try to find out what is wrong and what we can do to help."

Elita nodded and took a sip. She grimaced and put the bottle down.

"That one was even worse. I'm done."

Raf chuckled and turned back to his lunch, hoping the grim stuff was over for now. He'd had his share of stress already. He glanced around at the others and found Jack arching his eyebrow at Jensen.

 _Uh-oh, what did I miss?_

* * *

"Seriously?"

"I'm just sayin'." Jensen raised his hands. "Sure, Airachnid was a _horrible_ person, but she was kinda hot. And she seemed to wanna get into your pants. Were you ever tempted?"

 _Ugh!_ Jack shook his head and scrunched his face up. After letting a few seconds pass, he said, "Just had to wait for my skin to stop crawling. _No_ , I was never tempted. First of all, I'd never betray Arcee, _especially_ with someone as evil as Airachnid. Second, I think Lavernius Tucker said it best: 'Don't _ever_ stick your dick in crazy.'"

Arcee snickered and several others burst out laughing. Khalilah turned slowly toward Jensen and poked his shoulder.

"So … Airachnid was kinda hot?"

"Uh, I didn't - I mean, not as hot as you. Not _nearly_ as hot. Not even close."

Jack exchanged a glance with Arcee. "And on that note, wanna go see how mom does on the firing range?"

"Oh, good," June said, laughing softly, "an audience. Just what I need."

"Call it moral support." He grinned and picked up his tray. "Enjoy your foot sandwich, Jensen."

"Yeah, I have a feeling Khalilah and I are gonna have a long conversation."

"Nah, I was just messing with you." She chuckled and put her arm around his shoulders, and he let out a relieved sigh.

"Well, then." Ashanti stood and picked up her own tray. "Any time you're ready."

"Sure, let's get started." June followed her and flicked a nervous glance at Jack. "This oughta be … interesting."


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey, Miko." Arcee walked over to her and Jack's favorite spot at the top of the mesa near the Autobot base and sat beside Miko.

"Hi." Miko glanced up at her, smiled, and returned her gaze to the sunset.

"I'm a little surprised to find you here." Arcee and Jack liked to watch the sunset from the old stomping grounds whenever they could, and also sunrises, on the occasions when he got up early enough. Miko, on the other hand, usually spent her time off playing video games whenever she wasn't hanging out with her friends.

"I needed to find someplace quiet and just … take things in."

"I hope you didn't get any bad news." Arcee stared down at Miko for a moment. "Your parents …?"

Miko grinned. "They're still arguing about it, but I think they're going to let me stay. At least, I _hope_ so."

"So do the rest of us. You've become a valued member of our team, as well as a close friend." Arcee turned to watch the sunset. "I'd hate to see the gang broken up."

"It could still go sour, but I'm getting a good vibe from my family. Mom's firmly on my side, and I think Dad's starting to come around after he saw us in action yesterday. One of the things they were talking about is the legal hoops they'd have to jump through if they do let me stay. I mean, Jack and Raf and I are already on the payroll as 'Special Consultants,' but I'm not sure how we could keep getting directly involved in the fight without a bunch of contrived excuses. Maybe my parents would just have to sign a waiver or something, but there might be a lot more to it. Still, I'm hopeful."

"Glad to hear it." Arcee smiled. "At least Jack's mom has decided to jump right into the thick of it with him, so she probably feels a lot better about letting him stick around since she can be there to help watch his back."

"Heh. I don't think my parents are ready to put themselves in the bad guys' sights, though my dad kept pretty cool under fire, and I heard Mom didn't completely freak out, either." Miko shrugged. "Well, I made my case to them as best I could. All I can do now is wait. But like I said, I've got a good feeling about this." Miko glanced up at Arcee again. "By the way, how'd June's first day of combat training go?"

"Jack and I were with her the whole afternoon, and now we're following her to the lounge so she and Jack can unwind." Arcee laughed softly. "The poor woman's _exhausted_. She'd never fired a gun before she went undercover with McClory, and today Ashanti had her on the firing range with several pistols and rifles. On her first attempt, she hit the target once and missed all the other shots completely. She improved a lot, though, once she got used to it."

"Well, at least she didn't run around pointing the gun straight up, like that time she tried to play one of the _Call of Duty_ games with Jack." Miko giggled. "How'd she do with the hand-to-hand stuff?"

"That's the part that really wore her out. She learned the moves pretty quickly, though. Ashanti seemed impressed. She's planning to have June put her armor through its paces tomorrow, teach her how to use the jetpack in combat, and whatnot."

"Good. I hope we can all go on the mission, once the ship is built. It just wouldn't feel right if we weren't all together."

"It sure wouldn't." Arcee focused her attention for a moment on the feed from her remote-controlled body's optics and grinned suddenly. "Clayton just joined us in the lounge. Looks like he might be hoping to keep June company."

"Ah." Miko smirked. "I think they'd make a cute couple." She aimed a shit-eating grin up at Arcee. "And if he's gonna be spending time with her, that'll give you and Jack a chance to go back to your quarters and fuck like rabbits."

Arcee burst into laughter. "That's definitely on our to-do list." She leaned back, braced her palms on the rock beneath her, and raised a brow plate. "How about you? Still got your sights set on Knockout?"

"Eh, I dunno. He's definitely cute, but he seems to be squicked-out by the whole concept of sex. And I'm not sure his ego would let him think about anyone but himself getting off, anyway." Miko cocked her head. "Terwilliger kind of intrigues me, but he can't go there without getting into serious trouble. Which … eh, if I'm gonna keep getting into life-threatening situations to help save the world, I should be allowed to get laid."

"Well, maybe you could work that into whatever agreement your parents have to sign to let you stay. Y'know, make it part of your compensation."

"Hah! A bi-weekly paycheck _and_ my own personal concubine. Like they'd agree to _that_." Miko laughed and then shrugged. "Still, it's worth a try. Maybe one of the Pretenders is available, or one of our new Vehicon allies. Since they're alien robots, it's not like one of them could be arrested for banging an underage girl. But just in case, I should try to find a place where the age of consent is fifteen or under, and add the coordinates to the ground-bridge. At least with one of them, I wouldn't have to worry about getting knocked up or catching a disease."

 _Huh. Jack said sex is something people do when they love each other, but Miko seems to only want the experience without any emotional attachment. Apparently, different people have their own reasons._ Arcee nodded. "That does sound safer, yeah. And Terwilliger seems to have his heart set on Strika, anyway."

"Heh, I'm not even jealous. I'd actually give a month's pay to see how that pans out. I mean, what would it even be like to have sex with someone as _stoic_ as she is, anyway?" Miko giggled and then affected a stereotypical Russian accent. "Is good, yes. Your member is most pleasing. Are you ready to ejaculate? Very well, you may proceed."

Arcee snorted and then both of them collapsed in a fit of laughter. When Arcee regained control of herself, she stared at the fading light on the horizon and shook her head slowly.

"Like I said, I really hope you _do_ get to stay. Things just wouldn't be the same without you."

* * *

"Wow, you look exhausted," Tenesha said when she walked into the lounge and found June sprawled on the nearest sofa.

"I figured I should get some combat training in case I end up in a situation where I need to defend myself or Jack," June mumbled as she closed her eyes and tried not to think about her aching muscles. "Which is more likely than I want to think about, given what we've already been through in the past five or six months."

"She took it like a champ, though," Jack said from the armchair at the end of the couch. Arcee's Pretender body sat cross-legged on the floor in front of him, and he leaned forward to put his arms around her shoulders. "The hand-to-hand stuff was a hoot. Mom took a pounding, but kept coming back for more."

"Heh. Be thankful for that kind of determination. It's what kept me in school after you were born." June managed a soft chuckle and a quick glance at him.

"Oh, I am. If you hadn't, you wouldn't have gone on to medical school. You wouldn't have had a future, and neither would I." Jack gave Arcee a smooch on the cheek. "If anything had turned out differently, I probably would never have met my girl."

"Glad I could help." June grinned and took a few slow breaths. _Ugh, I can't fall asleep right here. I'll probably drool all over myself and wake up with a cramp in my neck._

The sound of metal feet tapping across the floor drew her attention. She forced her eyes back open and found Clay walking over to the sofa with a paper cup in each hand. She smiled and pushed herself back upright.

"I thought you might like some hot cocoa." He nodded at the vending machine in the corner and held one of the cups out to her.

"I would. Thank you." She accepted the cup and held it in both hands, only now noticing how cold the room was. Either winter was creeping up on the desert surrounding the base, or the air conditioning had been turned up too high. She motioned at the empty spot on the sofa and added, "Have a seat."

He grinned and sat beside her.

Jack and Arcee exchanged a quick glance and stood.

"Well," Jack said, "if you two can keep each other company, I think we'll head home. I've, uh, got some studying to do."

 _Is that what the kids are calling it, these days?_ June smiled and nodded at the door. "Don't let me keep you. I'll probably need to just sit here for a couple of hours before I'm recovered enough to go back to my quarters and take a shower." _And by morning, I'll probably be so sore all over, I may not even be able to move._

"Thanks, Mom." Jack darted toward the door, then stopped and turned back. "You did a hell of a job this afternoon. Keep up the good work."

"I'll try. Goodnight, kids."

Both of them said goodnight, Arcee slipped her hand into Jack's, and they rushed out the door.

Clay tossed a lopsided grin in their general direction. "Now, where are they off to in such a hurry?"

"Jack's a teenager and Arcee's his girlfriend." June shrugged and laughed.

" _Oh_. Right. Of course. 'Studying.'" Clay chuckled, leaned back, and crossed his ankles. He took a sip of his cocoa. "It's been a _long_ time since I could be considered a teenager. But then, I was lucky enough not to outgrow the horniness."

Across the room, one of the other Pretenders glanced over his shoulder with a huge grin and said, "In addition to just not really growing up at all."

"Well, as a wise man once said, what's the point of being a grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes?"

June grinned, sipped her cocoa, and mimicked Clay's relaxed pose.

"So, you think those two are together forever? Like, planning to get married and whatnot?"

"Depending on the legality of marrying an alien." June nodded slowly. "I definitely think they want to be together no matter what."

"Huh," a human half-slumped over the bar muttered. "If they're thinking about getting married, he'd better start hiding his money away _now_."

Clay stared at him with his mouth hanging open. "You're a fuckin' _monster_!"

June and the Pretender who'd spoken a moment ago both burst out laughing. The Pretender held a hand up and shook his head.

"Don't listen to him. He's just going through a rough divorce."

"Well," Clay said, " _I_ happen to be a 'glass-half-full' kinda guy. I think Jack and Arcee make a wonderful couple, and I wish them all the best." He raised his cup of cocoa as if making a toast.

"I'm glad to hear it." Grinning, June hoisted her cup and tapped it against his. _Hmm. Yep, this one just might be a keeper._

* * *

"Mmm, the coffee smells _wonderful_." Jack finished drying himself, tossed the towel into the laundry basket, closed his eyes, and took another deep breath.

"I figured I should go ahead and brew a pot while you were in the shower." Arcee grinned, stretched out on their bed, and propped her head on her hand. "Thought you might need a head start on the waking-up process."

"You were right." He quickly combed his hair, poured a cup, and flicked a bleary-eyed glance at her. "Want some?"

"I'm good, for now. You need it more than I do." She laughed softly as he yawned, crossed the room, and sat on the edge of the bed. "I've got to stop keeping you up so late every night."

"Staying up and fooling around was always a mutual decision." He grinned, leaned over, and kissed her.

"Hah, I had no idea you'd become such a sex addict once we started doing it."

"Look who's talking." He kissed her again, then moved his lips slowly across her metal cheek, over her neck, and across her chest. She moaned and closed her optics.

"I guess the … novelty hasn't worn off yet," she whispered.

"I hope it never does." Jack placed the coffee on the small table beside the bed and leaned over her again, leaving a trail of gentle kisses down her belly and toward her waist.

The Dean Scream erupted from his phone and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Arcee burst into laughter.

"That's probably the same message I just got." She arched a brow plate. "Sokolov seems to have resurfaced."

Jack read the text message and hauled himself back to his feet. "Yeah. Looks like a security camera outside a mall caught a glimpse of him. Facial-rec wasn't a hundred-percent match, but it's worth checking into."

"Yep. If it's him, June won't need to keep raking Silas over a cheese grater. If it's not, it'll give him an extra day or two to sweat before she works him over again." Arcee grinned and pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "I'm on the way over here to give you a ride to the briefing."

"Not _quite_ the kind of 'ride' I was hoping for, but it'll do." He grinned and gave her another kiss before opening the drawers under the bed and pulling some clothes out. Once he finished dressing, he walked to the coffee pot, poured it into a thermos, and screwed the cap on. "Ready when you are."

* * *

"What the fuck are we looking at?" Miko gaped at the image on the wall screen and shook her head slowly. The guy in the photo wore cowboy boots, shorts that appeared at least two sizes too small, a Coors T-shirt, and a ten-gallon hat. _And_ an enormous mustache that he couldn't have grown since yesterday. _He must've bought it from a costume store, or maybe he had it hidden away in a supply cache._ "So he's gone from Spetsnaz to MECH to … what? A cowboy-wannabe with a 1970s porn 'stache?"

"Not a bad disguise," Ashanti said. "Not at all what we expected. Not what we were really looking for. Kinda hiding in plain sight."

Bulkhead's human-size body nodded as several more photos of Sokolov slid across the screen. "I'm guessing that's why the facial-recognition software didn't get a full match."

"Yep." General Sanchez did a double-take at one of the photos, shook his head quickly, and turned to face everyone crowded around the conference table. "His eyes and nose were enough to trip the software, but the hat and that _thing_ under his nose confused it. It's the only lead we have at the moment, so we're gonna check it out." He glanced at June and smirked. "If it's not Sokolov, you can try out a few more of your ideas for screwing with Silas's head."

"The fun never ends." June chuckled, winced, and reached up slowly to rub her neck.

"You okay, Mom?" Jack tried not to let a smile show, but couldn't quite suppress it.

"Really starting to feel yesterday's workout. But I won't let that stop me from going on the mission with you."

"We'll need to be sure that really _is_ Sokolov," Ashanti said, "before we make a move against him. If it is, though, we won't let him get away again."

"Good," Sanchez said. "It's time we shut MECH down permanently." He turned to Jack and grinned. "You're gonna love this. These images were taken in the same town where your search for Arachnid started a few months back."

 _Oh, boy. That goddamn place again._ Miko held in a giggle as Jack grimaced.

"I guess it makes sense. MECH _did_ have a small operation set up there when Silas was working with Airachnid."

"That area, in general, does seem to attract assholes," Miko said.

"That, too." Jack sighed. "Is it still cold and rainy and miserable?"

"Pretty much. The best you can hope for is total cloud cover and a general dreariness. Still wanna go?"

"Hey, I'm in. At least I know enough to dress for the weather, this time."

 _I should do the same. Don't wanna go into a place like that with nothing but a T-shirt again. Last thing I need is for the cold air to make my titties even smaller._ She turned back to the screen, which had been cycling the photos, just as the one that had taken Sanchez aback rolled around again. She stared at it for a moment and noticed what had prompted the double-take.

"Oh, Jesus Christ." She pointed at the gap in the left leg of the guy's shorts. "I just saw his _balls_."

"I feel your pain, kid." Sanchez kept his back to the screen. "It does suggest that he grabbed whatever clothes he could get his hands on. Might've even stolen 'em right there in that mall. We're checking with local police for reports of muggings and thefts from stores in the vicinity, and we're also keeping an eye on the whole region, particularly the area between that town and the mountain Airachnid picked for her lair."

"Setting up shop in the same place we caught Silas would be a bold move," Arcee said. "But then, maybe he figured we wouldn't predict it _because_ of that."

"Could just be a place for him to lay low and plan his next move, but yeah, he might actually be crazy enough to run an operation there." Sanchez glanced around, making eye contact with everyone. "We've got UAVs covering the whole area, and you'll be going in the same way you started the search for Airachnid, arriving at separate points and patrolling. If Sokolov is spotted, you'll converge on his location and verify that it's really him. Once that's done, take him down."

"Understood," Ashanti said.

"Gear up." Sanchez stood, and the others followed suit. "Good hunting."


	12. Chapter 12

"I hate this place," Jack grumbled. He hunched forward, shivering despite his heavy cargo pants, boots, gloves, thick shirt, and hip-length leather coat, and leaned on Arcee's handlebars. Pouring rain splattered his helmet visor and created a muted roar all around him. He wiped the visor off and tried to keep an eye on the restaurant to the right of the mall's main entrance without staring straight through the window at the still ridiculously-dressed Sokolov. "I'll be glad when I can put my armor on. At least it has a built-in heating unit."

"At least this isn't Florida," Terwilliger said over the comm. "I grew up there, kind of all over the place. My parents moved around a lot. Some parts aren't that bad, I guess, but in other parts, I was _sticky_ all over the whole time I was there. And don't even get me started on all the fuckedupness that goes on there."

"Florida?" Strika's voice came from Jack's helmet speakers.

"It's America's syphilitic penis," Terwilliger grumbled. "As soon as I was on my own, I moved as far away as I could get and never looked back."

"I'd take almost anything over _this_ place," Jack said. "When I was growing up, I couldn't wait to get out of Jasper, but at least the climate there never got cold enough to turn my dick into a small stack of buttons."

"That mental image is too horrifying to contemplate," Arcee said with a chuckle. "And believe me, these optics have _seen_ some shit in the past few thousand years."

"All the more reason to wrap this up quickly and go home," Miko chimed in. "I'm bundled up in a thick shirt and coat, and my nipples are _still_ like` pencil erasers. If it gets any colder here, I'm afraid my tits might actually invert."

She appeared at the mall entrance, pretending to talk into her phone to avoid arousing suspicion. Her other hand was stuffed into her leather trench coat pocket and her arm was pressed against her side. She glanced at the Lucky Dragon restaurant before turning to the Subway on the opposite side of the door.

"Is 'Cowboy Wannafuck' still sitting there?"

"Yep," Kefira said, and Jack glanced over to where she and Terwilliger sat in Bumblebee. He'd inverted his usual yellow-and-black color scheme to make himself harder for their quarry to identify. Arcee had changed from her usual blue to dark red, and had left her Pretender body riding in Optimus's trailer with Bulkhead's mini-me and the team's gear.

"He appears to be waiting for someone," Kefira added. "Hasn't even ordered any food. And he's still wearing that ridiculous outfit. I doubt I'll be able to forget it, though I intend to try."

"Yeah, that's in my brain now. Especially the sight of his nutsack poking out of his shorts. The cowboy hat doesn't seem to be out of place in this town, though." Miko headed for the Subway. "We've only been here an hour, and I've already seen a ton of wannabe-cowboys."

"And lots of big trucks with lift kits and huge tires," Terwilliger added. "What's the deal with that, anyway?"

"It's the kind of thing a guy drives because he's hung like a thumbtack." Miko paused at the Subway's front door. "I'm gonna duck in here and grab some hot coffee before I freeze solid. Anybody wanna join me?"

"You should warm up while you have a chance, Jack." Arcee laughed. "If you shiver any harder, you might rattle a few of my parts off."

"I wouldn't feel right about leaving you out here in the rain."

"A little rain won't kill me. Go on. It's best if you don't turn into a Jacksickle before Cowboy Wannafuck finally hits the road."

"Besides," June added, "if you sit there in the pouring rain too long, people will start wondering why you're not indoors."

"Good point, Mom." Jack sighed, dismounted, and headed for the Subway. "Let me know when something happens."

"Uh," Terwilliger said, "how about now? Someone just sat at Sokolov's table."

 _Shit._ Jack paused, glanced through the restaurant window, and found a man seated across the table from Sokolov. "Oh, good, another guy dressed as a cowboy."

"At least the new guy's wearing pants," Miko said. "That face, though."

"Yeah." June laughed under her breath. "It reminds me of a thrombosed hemorrhoid I saw in the hospital in Jasper."

" _Jesus_ , Mom!" Jack tried to hold a laugh in and ended up snorting instead.

"Just getting back into character in case I need to put a scare into this guy."

"I'm pointing a laser mic at him," Kefira said once she stopped laughing. "Let's see if he mentions where he's going or what he's up to."

* * *

"Oh, boy," Sierra whispered. She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and leaned forward to stare even more intently at the bank of monitors. As before, each screen showed a live feed through a secure transmission from the Autobots' optics. Once the human team members put their armor on, images from their helmet cameras would be added to the rest.

"I still think it's horrible that they're sending _kids_ into a situation like this," Camille grumbled. "They'll end up right in the middle of it when the shooting starts, like they always do."

Beside her, Roderick sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

"It's not a high-risk mission. They're just watching from a distance." He reached over to put his hand over hers. "We know they were in the middle of this before we ever found out about it. At least now they're surrounded by people trained to handle things like this."

Camille rolled her eyes and let out a sharp sigh.

"Miko has shown us that she can handle it," Natsumi said, though her left hand gripped her husband's as if holding onto a lifeline. "As have her friends. And I doubt we could stop her, anyway."

"I hate to admit it," Daisuke said, "but you're probably right about that. From what I've been told, she seems to have a talent for slipping past anyone trying to keep her out of the fight."

Sierra glanced over at Raf's parents and several of his brothers and sisters, who'd been let in to watch the operation, or at least part of it. It seemed weird to her that any of them were being allowed to see it. But then, maybe Colonel McKenna had wanted to keep them all in the loop so they wouldn't worry themselves sick. Though if the operation went down the tubes, they'd have to watch a lot of horrible things unless the feed was cut.

 _Well, seeing them in action gave me a chance to see how they all have each other's backs, so that's kinda reassuring, I guess._ Sierra's gaze drifted back toward Smokescreen's monitor. _I'm really starting to wish I could be part of it._

Kefira's voice came from the speakers. _"I'm pointing a laser mic at them. Let's see if he mentions where he's going or what he's up to."_

 _"Given what I know about MECH and its leaders,"_ Terwilliger muttered, _"every time I hear one of 'em speak, I almost expect 'em to say, 'Hail HYDRA.'"_

 _"Took you long enough to get here,"_ Sokolov said in a passable southern accent, keeping his volume low to avoid being overheard by the people surrounding them.

 _"We took a big hit when your base was overrun by those aliens and their human collaborators. You're the only one who made it out of there."_ The other guy had a nasally voice and an accent that reminded Sierra of her uncle from Boston. Which _really_ clashed with his outfit. _"We had to pull_ everyone _in to make up for it and regroup at our base in the mountains. That took a while, but at least it's not far from here. How the hell did you end up here, anyway?"_

 _"When I landed, I had to take the first vehicle I found and just drive until I ran out of fuel. Had to repeat the process a few times to be sure I was no longer being pursued. The last one brought me to a train. I slipped into one of the cargo cars and rode it to its destination, which happened to be this …_ charming _little town."_

 _"That was a stroke of luck we've been needing. Last I heard, your base is still engulfed in flames."_

 _"At least we know the quinitricetyline has exceeded our expectations."_

 _"And then some. Well, I'm ready to give you a lift to the new base. It's a couple of hours from here. Just let me know when you're ready."_

Miko's voice came through the speakers next. _"Hey, can someone run facial rec on this guy? Find out what he's driving? I'll see if I can tag it before they come out of the restaurant."_

 _"I'm on it,"_ Arcee said. _"I've got a great view of both of them. Sending a photo from my optics."_

 _"Got it,"_ Raf chimed in, his voice accompanied by the clicking of a mechanical keyboard in the background. _"Okay, his name is Patrick Conte and he's driving a white Ford F-150. We'll be able to track him wherever he goes as long as we can stay in range of the tag."_

"Nice." Raf's dad grinned. He glanced around the room and added, "That's my boy."

 _"I'm looking for it,"_ Miko said once Raf read off the truck's license plate. _"You gonna be riding in with us or keeping your distance?"_

 _"He'll be inside me,"_ Tomoko said, and Sierra wondered if she'd imagined the very slight hint of mischievousness in her voice.

"Uh, what?" Camille blurted.

Terwilliger burst out laughing. _"That put the most_ awesome _image in my head!"_

Col. McKenna stifled a snicker. _"Uh, say again, Tomoko?"_

 _"I'm a helicopter. He'll be sitting in my back seat while I keep an eye on those guys from the air. That way, he'll be able to help us out with tech and hacking stuff while I keep him a safe distance away."_

 _"Ah, okay. Understood."_ McKenna sounded like she was still struggling not to chuckle.

Sierra glanced at Raf's parents and found them grinning at each other.

"He's getting to the age where he's starting to notice girls," his mom said. "He could do a whole lot worse than Tomoko."

Camille turned to her and sneered. "You actually approve of your kid dating one of them?"

"Are you kidding? We've been spending a lot of time with her and she's _such_ a sweetheart!" Raf's mom beamed. "She's one of the nicest people I've ever met. And the way she carries that Catbug plushie everywhere is _adorable_!"

"She's also a giant robot. An _alien_ one." Camille shook her head

"And?"

Camille rolled her eyes, turned back to the monitors, and muttered under her breath. "Disgusting."

Raf's mom gaped at her and then leaned forward. "Say _anything_ like that about Raf and Tomoko again and I'll give you such an ass-beating, your descendants will feel it a thousand years from now!"

Camille stared back at her and some of the color drained from her face. Roderick clamped his mouth shut on a laugh and she whipped around to glare at him.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing." He sighed. "Look, he's their kid and they're okay with it. It's none of our business, anyway."

Sierra took a slow breath and fixed her gaze on the monitors. _I wonder how long it'll be before they end up in divorce court._

* * *

"Pretty slick, Miko." Raf grinned at the image of the truck carrying Sokolov and Conte on his monitor. Miko had walked past the truck while the two men were on their way out the restaurant's door, pretending to talk on her phone while tossing her keys into the air and catching them. While behind Conte's truck, she'd pretended to fumble and drop the keys, and had stuck a tracking device inside the bumper while retrieving them. Then she'd continued walking, still jabbering into her phone about a fourteen-year-old girl in Jasper who'd given birth into a toilet in a McDonald's restroom because she didn't know she was pregnant.

"Thanks."

"That thing you were going on about," Terwilliger said. " _Please_ tell me you just made that up."

"Nope. It was in the news a couple days ago. Poor girl's parents never talked to her about sex. Not even a word about where babies come from. They also severely restricted her TV and internet access, so she had no idea at all. Didn't even figure out that she was pregnant."

June let out a long sigh. "That's the kind of thing that happens when nobody bothers to educate you. I didn't expect to get pregnant the very first time I did it, but when it happened, at least my parents made sure I understood what was going on and how to get through the pregnancy. And they were there to help me take care of Jack after he was born."

"I'm thankful for that," Jack said. "I feel so sorry for the baby Miko was talking about."

"Yeah," Miko said. "Sooner or later, that kid is gonna find out that her life began in a fuckin' toilet in a public restroom. In a _McDonald's_!"

"Christ," Raf muttered. He glanced at Tomoko's mini-me in the pilot's seat and the Catbug held in the copilot's seat with a five-point harness and wondered if she knew what everyone was talking about. She was still learning about the world she'd found herself in, but at least she could find any info she needed in an instant with her variety of built-in wireless connections.

Once Raf had begun to get curious about sex, he'd needed to wait until his parents and siblings weren't around before trying to investigate. Some of them wouldn't have cared, but three in particular would've tattled on him just to instigate something if they'd caught him looking for info or watching porn on his laptop.

He realized his gaze had lingered a little too long on Tomoko and focused on his keyboard and monitor before she noticed. If she found out the thoughts he'd begun having about her, particularly after her "inside me" comment, he'd never live it down.

 _Better get the conversation back on topic before I blurt out something stupid._ "I wonder if there's a way to hear what those guys are saying?"

"Wish I'd had a bug I could've planted in their truck," Miko said. "Who knows what they might let slip. But someone would've gotten suspicious if I picked the lock and stuck something under the seat or dashboard."

"Yeah," June said. "Best not to risk it. I don't even want to think about what Sokolov might've done if he'd caught you."

"Same here."

"I might be able to hear what they're saying if I get close enough," Tomoko said. "I'm equipped with sensitive microphones and a stealth mode, among other things."

"Worth a try," Ashanti said after considering it for a moment. "As long as you stay ready to get the hell out of there if they notice you."

"Don't worry, my main concern is keeping Raf safe." She engaged her stealth mode and the thumping of her rotors and high-pitched sound of her engine faded to a whisper.

"Nice." Raf grinned and wondered how the sounds were being suppressed. He watched the image on his screen shift and blur and then focus as she zoomed her camera out while descending.

"We're in range," Tomoko said. "Aiming the mic now."

Sokolov's voice faded in while in the middle of a sentence. _"... laugh when I found out where this base was."_

 _"It seemed an appropriate location. After all, Silas's brief partnership with that alien is one of_ _the things that led to his capture. It seems kind of poetic that we use the place as the launch point of his retrieval, as well as our recovery of Project Damocles."_

"Huh," Miko said. "What the hell's Project Damocles?"

"It's the main reason Leland Bishop was given the ol' heave-ho," Ashanti replied. "His pet project was a series of satellites equipped with particle beams and other weapons. In the right hands, they could've been reworked into a planetary defense grid to use against the DJD or Decepticon reinforcements, but Bishop's hands are obviously _not_ the right ones. If he'd managed to build all of them and get them into orbit, they would've been able to fire on any target on Earth's surface."

"Shit," Jack said under his breath. "So they're planning to restart the project."

"Bishop completed only one satellite, but that would raise plenty of hell on its own if MECH manages to recover it from its secure storage site. He was ordered not to go ahead with the project, but he did it anyway, so he was tossed out on his ass. Then he disappeared and started calling himself Silas when he resurfaced."

"I was wondering what the full story with him was," Arcee muttered. "So wherever that thing is stored, they'll need to be ready for an infiltration attempt if not an all-out attack. Same goes for any place that might still have the plans for those things. If MECH gets their hands on either of those, they'll be able to mass produce it."

"Yeah. Obviously, we can't let that happen. We need to stop them right here, before they can move forward with their plans."

"I have a hunch where Sokolov and Conte might be headed," Arcee said. "Given who they were talking about a moment ago …"

"Yeah." Jack's voice was barely above a whisper, and Raf could easily imagine him trembling from memories of his traumatic encounters with a certain recently-deceased enemy of Arcee's. "Airachnid's lair."

* * *

"I've got eyes on Suckadick and Cunty," Miko said over the comms, keeping her voice low. Following up on Arcee's hunch, she'd collected her armor and used its stealth system to approach the MECH base's suspected location. "Your guess was right, guys. They've set up a bunch of tents and sheds in the crater left after you blew Airachnid's lair _and_ the top of Camas Mountain off the map."

Jack shivered again, this time at the memory of the "trophies" the late, unlamented rogue Decepticon had put on display in the tunnels deep inside one of the mountains here.

"In the middle of the crater?" Arcee said as she leaned into a gradual turn, following the curve of the highway. She'd changed her color scheme again several times while trailing Conte's truck, most recently settling on black with gold trim.

"Yep. Dunno how they leveled off the spot they picked out and set up their equipment without being noticed."

"It's pretty far away from any roads or inhabited areas," Jack said, trying not to let his teeth chatter. "Still, it seems like someone would've spotted the activity sooner or later."

"It's possible someone found them while hiking or hunting, but if anyone got close enough to get a good look at them, I doubt anyone will ever see them again. We should check for local missing-persons reports."

"Great. Now I'm half expecting to find the bodies of people who just stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Well, we can hope nobody got that close," Arcee said. "Miko, any idea how big his team is? What kind of opposition will we be facing?"

"Looks like around thirty in the open. Can't see how many more are in the tents. There must be a pretty good reserve of MECH troops somewhere. If we're lucky, he brought all of 'em in. If he didn't, we'll have to keep our eyes out for even _more_ of their fuckery."

"Terrific. Well, for now, we'll keep hoping this is all that's left of MECH." Arcee set a waypoint on her GPS display and cut her engine before easing over to the edge of the highway. "We gotta go off the road and into the trees before from here on."

Bulkhead joined the conversation as a moving blip representing Optimus appeared on her screen. "The rest of us are moving toward your waypoint. Optimus will bring his trailer as close as he can get so you can grab your weapons and gear."

"Thanks," Jack said. "See you in a few. Mom, you hanging in there?"

"I'm a little nervous, but I'm also looking forward to seeing Sokolov and his goons led away in handcuffs."

"Me, too. I hope that's really him."

"Same here. Though I have to admit, I'll miss having an excuse to screw around with Silas's head. Still, it's better for everyone to put this guy behind bars."

"Well, he probably still has all kinds of info about MECH that he hasn't spilled yet." Jack grinned as he dismounted. "It wouldn't hurt to keep working him over in case they've still got other troops and resources, so we can mop 'em up before they cause any more damage."

"That's a good point. I'll have to keep coming up with new ideas, then. _Mwahaha!_ "

Arcee chuckled and transformed out of her vehicle mode. She and Jack made their way into the trees and headed toward Optimus.

"I've moved closer," Miko whispered. "Now I can see a few of 'em going in and out of several huge tunnels at the edge of the crater. Looks like they're using what's left of Airachnid's lair, so they could have a lot more gear and personnel hidden underground."

"Fantastic." Jack sighed. A clean-up crew had gone through the lair and removed the equipment and "trophies," but the network of tunnels had been left alone. The area had been cordoned off with warning signs and a chain-link fence topped with razor wire, but that wouldn't stop someone like Sokolov.

"Doesn't matter how many there are," Ashanti said. "This is where we cut off MECH's head, no matter what."

Jack exchanged a worried glance with Arcee. "Fun times ahead."


	13. Chapter 13

"Have I missed much?" Clayton entered the room, glanced around, and picked the empty seat beside Sierra. "My boss let me off work early so I could haul ass over here as fast as I could. Is June okay?"

"She's fine, so far." Sierra smiled at him and turned back to the bank of monitors. "They're all okay. They've followed Sokolov to his base and now they're getting ready to go in."

"Good." Clay leaned back and grinned at the monitors. "After seeing June work Silas over, I've been eager for more. I'm a little nervous at the same time, though. I don't want her to get hurt."

"I know how you feel." Sierra glanced at the screen showing he feed from Smokescreen's optics. "Smokey really threw himself into the last battle, which is awesome, but it also worries me." She took a slow breath and tried to keep an eye on the other monitors. "You did miss some hilarious commentary from Miko and a few others. You'll have to watch the whole thing when you have time."

"Can't wait." A blank monitor came to life with an image and data from June's helmet camera. Clay leaned forward and rubbed his metal hands together. "Ah, here we go!"

Arcee's voice came from the speakers under her monitor. "How do we play this?" Her optics zoomed in on the tents and sheds in the crater that used to be part of Airachnid's base.

"Maybe Miko should sneak in and fart a few times," Terwilliger said. "That'd clear those MECH guys outta there in no time."

Sierra burst into laughter. _The poor girl's never gonna live that down._

Miko snickered. "I'm pretty sure that'd violate the Geneva Conventions."

Several other team members laughed before Col. McKenna replied.

"Well, since we're not equipped with hazmat suits, how about we get a scan of the mountain's interior instead? We need to be sure there are no other exits and no booby traps. If there are none, we'll surround them, close in, and pin them down."

"Sounds good." The image on Arcee's screen bobbed up and down as she nodded. "Let's go get 'em."

"I hope June doesn't get too close," Clay muttered. "She just started her combat training yesterday, so she's not ready yet."

"Colonel McKenna said she learns fast, but yeah, she hasn't been in the middle of it for several months like the rest of the team." Sierra glanced at him and smirked. "Also, she's really sore from the workout yesterday. A while ago she said every inch of her body hurts, even her nipples."

 _Well, any excuse to think about June's nipples …_ Clay grinned and kept watching her monitor.

"A few of us have stealth systems in our armor," Jack said, "but how are the rest of you going to approach without being spotted?"

"Assuming they don't already know we're here," Terwilliger added. "Wouldn't surprise me if they do."

"Hmm." On Jack's screen, his mom glanced around and smirked. "I have an idea."

* * *

"Is a good sniper nearby?"

 _Whoa._ Jack stared at his mom and flicked a glance at Arcee. _She can't be suggesting we just blow his head off. Can she?_

"I like where this is headed," Elita-1 said over the comms. "Moonracer's closest to your position. She can shoot the wings off a housefly from three thousand meters away. What do you have in mind?"

"Nothing fatal, hopefully. If we can get him in our sights, maybe we can convince him to surrender."

"Hmm." Ashanti pondered it for a few seconds. "We've already seen that not all of his troops are willing to die for the cause. We should at least give them a chance to stand down, even if Sokolov won't."

"I approve," Optimus said. "Once we have a thorough scan of the mountain's interior, we can contact them and hope they will see reason."

"Bumblebee and I almost have it," Smokescreen said. "Just a few more seconds. Heh, these human-size bodies we're using give us more of a tactical advantage than I thought they would. Our real bodies are way too big to get anywhere near the base without being noticed."

"Scan complete," Bee cut in. "All the tunnels come to dead ends. Looks like Airachnid didn't leave any back doors."

"Well, she could've drilled a new one easily enough if she needed to."

"True." Ashanti took a slow breath. "Alright. Those of us with stealth gear will slip into the tunnels and see if we can trim MECH's numbers, either by talking them down or taking them out. Once that's done or the op goes tits-up on us, then June and Moonracer can do their thing."

"Guess I'm up." Jack locked his helmet and tapped the control on his belt that would engage his armor's stealth system. He caught a worried glance from his mom as the light distorted around him and blended him in with his surroundings.

"Be careful," she said softly.

"I'll keep him safe," Arcee said with a wave of her hand at her human-size doppelganger.

June took a quick breath and managed a nervous smile. "Go get 'em."

* * *

Ashanti crept past the guard at the nearest tunnel with Miko following close behind. She'd split the team up to cover more ground, and had almost sent Miko with Terwilliger. She'd quickly remembered how the two behaved together and paired him up with Jack instead. She trusted Terwilliger to keep his hands off the girl, but the last thing the team needed was for them to be distracted by each other. Bulkhead's mini-me had gotten as close to the base as he could, but since he didn't have a stealth system, he'd had to settle for keeping an eye on enemy troop movements. Arcee was doing the same for Jack and Terwilliger.

Ashanti glanced at the data in her HUD and led Miko down the tunnel to a pair of blips at the far end. Miko's blip remained at a steady distance as they made their way deeper into the mountain, passing crates and pallets here and there, some open and some still sealed. The open ones contained assortments of weapons and other gear.

She made out a pair of female voices growing more distinct. She led Miko around one last curve in the tunnel and found it widening into a roughly spherical chamber. More crates lined the walls and sat in the center, with two women in MECH tactical gear opening one after another and removing the contents.

"Found 'em," the dark-haired woman said. "Some of 'em, at least. Once we get these sentry turrets set up around the perimeter, we'll have a lot less to worry about."

"Good," the redhead replied. "Last thing I want is to wake up in the middle of the night and find another goddamn bear sniffing me."

The other woman grinned. "And the last thing _I_ need is to be scared awake in the middle of the night by my girlfriend screaming like a little kid. My heart is _still_ pounding."

" _Your_ heart? What about mine? I didn't even know there were any bears in this area." She shook her head. "I'll be glad when I can get back to the city, where I belong. This close-to-nature bullshit is gonna give me a fuckin' heart attack."

"Well, I'll do what I can to make your stay in the great outdoors a little more pleasant." The dark-haired one sauntered over and slipped her arms around the redhead's waste.

"Now?" The redhead glanced over her shoulder into the tunnel, and Ashanti doubled her efforts to remain motionless. The active camouflage kept them invisible, but too much movement tended to produce a rippling effect in the air, rather like heat waves. "With everybody else just a few dozen yards away?"

"Come on, you know the danger of getting caught turns me on. At least give me a few points for refraining from saying, 'make your stay in the great outdoors a little more _bear_ able.'"

"Just for that, I'd make you spend the night on the couch - _if_ we had one."

"Since we don't, we'll have to settle for a spot behind one of these crates. Or maybe on top of one. I'm flexible." She kissed the other woman.

Ashanti shook her head. _I hate to break this up, but we're on a clock, here._

A rippling in the air to her right drew her attention and she found Miko deactivating her cloak and leaning casually against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. Just _watching_ them with a shit-eating grin.

 _Aw, hell._

"Well, you've talked me into it." The redhead laughed softly, turned, and waved a hand at one of the crates. "I guess that one's as good as any."

She finally noticed Miko, gasped, and spun toward her. Miko shrugged.

"Don't let me interrupt you." She twirled her hand as if to say, "Please, do continue."

Ashanti sighed and disengaged her cloak so the two women could see her P90. She glanced at Miko and grumbled, "Fuckin' pervert."

"Guilty as charged." Miko smirked and turned back to the MECH troops. "My friend here has some handcuffs for you. I _strongly_ advise you to slip into them and not give us any trouble."

The dark-haired woman grimaced, sighed, and raised her hands. The redhead plucked the radio from her belt. Ashanti snapped her rifle over to aim at her.

Miko lunged forward and grabbed the radio. The woman cocked her left fist back and launched it at Miko's helmet. Miko clamped her robotic hand around the fist and stopped it cold. A shocked look crossed the redhead's face before her expression twisted in pain as Miko applied pressure.

"What did I say about giving us any trouble? Huh?" She squeezed a little harder and the woman groaned and sank to her knees. Her girlfriend dropped to her knees and raised her hands higher.

"Don't hurt her! We'll do whatever you want, just …"

The redhead held the radio to her mouth and snapped a single word through clenched teeth.

"Intruders!"

* * *

"Uh-oh," Moonracer blurted.

"What?" June aimed her helmet cam into the crater, zoomed in, and found MECH troops rushing around, unpacking crates and pulling equipment out. Some of the devices looked like plastic boxes and others appeared to be tiny satellite dishes. Sokolov barked orders at them and they ran to the edge of the crater and began assembling the pieces. "Huh. What the hell are they doing?"

"Looks like they're setting up a sensor array. Or maybe signal jammers."

"They know we're here," Ashanti said over the comms. "Everyone, circle the crater and get ready to close in on 'em. June, whatever your idea is, now's as good a time as any. Distracting Sokolov should give us the wiggle room we need to get into position."

"On it." June stared at the encampment, glanced at Moonracer, and pointed at her railgun. "Can you draw a frowny face in the side of that shipping container behind Sokolov with that thing?"

"Absolutely!" Moonracer giggled and lined up a shot.

"On my signal. Raf, can you patch me into Sokolov's radio?"

"Gimme a sec." The clicking of a mechanical keyboard came from her helmet speakers. "Okay, you're on."

June tried to summon up the steely yet slightly-unhinged tone she'd used when working McClory and Silas over. "Hey, Sokolov!"

In the camera window in her HUD, Sokolov froze for a split-second, stared at his handheld radio, and then turned slowly, sweeping his scowl over the edge of the crater and the trees beyond.

 _Great. The only way we could see down into the crater was to climb the trees around it, and now we'll have a hell of a time getting back to the ground once he spots us._

"To whom am I speaking?" Sokolov didn't bother to hide his accent.

"Someone who doesn't react well to terrorists trying to get their hands on her son and his girlfriend."

" _Ah_ , I recognize your voice now. Jackson Darby's mother, yes? The _nurse_." He chuckled.

"That's what I wanted everyone to think. Worked for quite a while, too - until _you_ brought me out of retirement."

"Retirement from what?" Sokolov motioned at the guy with the face that reminded her of a thrombosed hemorrhoid. The guy nodded and jogged over to the nearest men setting up one of the dishes, then moving from one to another around the edge of the crater.

"Guess your information isn't up to date. Long story short, I made my living by taking out people who tended to cause problems for my employers, but tried to turn over a new leaf when I had my son. Now that you're a danger to him, I'm back to doing what I do best."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"I got Silas to spill _everything_ , including your location. Well, once he stopped _screaming_ , that is. You can make things easy on yourself and surrender now, or I'll give you a taste of what I put him through. Maybe I'll start by hooking up a car battery to your nipples and work my way down from there. _Slowly_."

Sokolov arched an eyebrow. "Even if I believed you, the people you work with can't torture prisoners. They have rules against that."

"I never let little details like that stop me." June giggled. "I'd never let anyone find your remains, either. You'd be amazed how a body can be folded up and stuffed into a compact space after all the fluids have been drained."

"Holy shit, Mom," Jack said under his breath.

"If you think this 'crazy act' of yours will intimidate me, you really _are_ insane." Sokolov laughed and moved the radio away from his mouth long enough to snap an order at one of his subordinates. "We've been scanning the area. We're detecting quite a large number of your alien-robot friends as well as a handful of humans."

"Then you know you're pinned down."

He smirked and shook his head. "It was very kind of all of you to deliver yourselves to me."

June nodded at Moonracer and pointed at the shipping container. The 'Bot grinned and aimed her railgun with one hand while keeping a firm grip on the tree trunk with the other. She fired twenty rounds in the span of about two seconds and June returned her attention to the image of Sokolov in her HUD. He'd turned to stare at the frowning emoticon Moonracer had just carved into the metal.

"Hey," June snarled into her helmet mic. " _Asshole_. Do I have your attention now? This is your last chance. Drop your guns and assume the position, or the next shot makes you _dead_ and me _happy_." She put an almost aroused breathiness into her voice. "I've been in a rotten mood since you came after my son, Kazimir. I _want_ to be happy again."

"Good to know you enjoy your work. Under other circumstances, I might've tried to recruit you." Sokolov laughed. "But now that you've brought all this marvelous alien technology right into my hands, I have more important matters to attend to."

"That's it," Ashanti muttered. "Everyone, close the box."

June pulled her camera back and swept it over her surroundings. She caught glimpses of Bee, Smokescreen, Elita, and Chromia storming through the trees toward the crater. A few seconds later she spotted two of their new Vehicon allies approaching from the opposite side.

"On it." Arcee took several steps forward, reached out to brace her hand on a tree as she stepped over a crevice, and suddenly yanked her hand back. " _Ow_!"

June glanced over and found her grimacing and holding one hand over her forearm. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I've lost the connection to my mini-me and I … I can't move my arm." Arcee shook her head. "It's like I was hit by an EMP, but that only affects us for a moment. This is … it feels different. I'm running a diagnostic." Her face twisted into a scowl. "The circuits and servos in my arm have been fried. I'm gonna need to get the whole thing replaced."

"Don't get any closer, Arcee!" June glanced around at the 'Bots and Vehicons. "Guys …"

One of the Vehicons shuddered and let out a strangled scream before toppling over.

"All Cybertronians," Strika snapped, " _do not approach_! Fall back."

"I agree," Optimus said. "Everyone, hold off until we understand what happened and find a way around it."

"Jack?" June's heart pounded. "Can you hear me?"

"I'm still here. Whatever it is, it either doesn't affect our armor, or it's just not, uh, happening inside the crater."

"It's those gadgets they set up around the edge." Moonracer shifted her aim, fired, lined up another shot, fired, and continued until she'd blown all the satellite-dish devices into scrap. "Problem solved."

"I'll test it." Another Vehicon appeared in June's HUD and strode toward the other two. He crouched beside the one who'd fallen. "Campbell's still down. Either whatever did this is still active, or the damage is permanent." He stood and marched on toward the crater. The other Vehicon tried to grab his arm and missed.

"Bilby, wait!"

Bilby took a few more steps and shrugged. "Nothing, so far."

"Good enough for me," Bulkhead growled. "Ashanti's team is still in the tunnels. We can pin 'em between us."

"Approach with caution," Optimus said. "We don't know what else they have waiting for us."

"Let's go." Bracing her hands and feet on nearby branches, June made her way back to the ground. Moonracer glanced down at her.

"Uh, maybe we should …"

"They've got my son in there." June double-checked the seals on her helmet and ran a systems check while she marched up the hill toward the crater. "I'm going in."


	14. Chapter 14

"I knew it," Camille snapped, throwing a hand up toward the bank of monitors showing the chaos that had erupted over the past few minutes. "So much for 'low-risk mission' and the kids 'watching from a distance.'"

"Camille, please, take it easy. They've all been through worse." Roderick winced at the shouting and rapid popping of gunfire coming from the speakers under each screen.

"I'll never understand why you think _that_ would make this okay."

 _Give it a rest._ Clayton glanced at her and turned back to June's monitor. _I can understand why she's worried, but most of them can handle it. I just hope they can keep June safe. She's only just started getting in on this._

The view from June's helmet camera bobbed and panned back and forth as she darted down one of the tunnels in MECH's mountain base. She turned, found a half-dozen bodies among the crates and boxes they'd been unpacking, and froze.

"Shit," she whispered, and took several slow breaths to calm herself. She crept slowly past them, pausing to check each one for signs of life, and found none. She shook her head and kept moving - then she stopped suddenly and turned toward one of the open crates as if something inside had caught her attention. She walked over to it and picked up one of a set of coiled ropes. She glanced around at the shelves and scaffolding MECH had set up to hold flood lights and other equipment. "Hmm."

Clay flicked his gaze over the other monitors. Jack's screen held a close-up of the human-sized doppelganger Arcee had been remote-piloting until something interrupted her connection. Jack had tried to move the body and found it stiff as a board.

"Whatever they did, it caused all the mechanisms inside to seize up," he muttered. "If it can do the same thing to your real bodies …"

"Campbell's still down," Chromia said. "I'm not picking up any life signs from him. He's completely offline."

"Oh, no," Khalilah said softly. "I've just scanned him, too. His spark's been extinguished. There's no energy output from him at all."

"Damn." Ashanti sighed. "They killed him just by flipping a switch. How'd they learn enough about Cybertronian technology to do that?"

"They captured me a while back, after Knockout and I ended up on the run from the rest of the Decepticons," Breakdown said. "They must've taken enough scans before I escaped to work out what makes us tick."

"Terrific. Guys, I know we've been trying to take as many of 'em alive as possible, but if they don't surrender soon, we're gonna have to take the gloves off before they kill anyone else."

"Even though Moonracer took out the jammers, or whatever they were, we can't afford to assume they don't have a backup ready to deploy." Strika's monitor showed a first-person view of her holding her left arm out as she moved slowly through the trees. She'd instructed the Cybertronian team members to hold that pose while approaching the base and to fall back immediately if their arms were fried the way Arcee's had been.

"I told you not to underestimate them, Optimus," Elita grumbled.

"True enough," Breakdown said. "Even though we're titans on their world, it's terrifying how easily they can take us down."

"We should shoot to kill based on that alone."

"No," Optimus said. "Not all of these people are as fanatical as Silas and Sokolov. We will not resort to lethal force unless they give us no other option."

Clay glanced at Ashanti's monitor as her helmet cam panned over to the two women she and Miko had captured. The dark-haired one cradled her unconscious girlfriend in her arms as she huddled near the mouth of the tunnel. Miko had knocked her the fuck out after the woman sounded the alarm. The still-conscious one caught Ashanti staring at her and shook her head.

"Don't worry, we're staying right here. The tunnel's a dead end, and if I run out there, you'll just shoot me." She leaned against the wall and held the redhead in her lap. "Besides, I'm not gonna just leave her here."

"Just curious," Miko said, "why'd you join up? You don't seem all that dedicated to the cause."

"MECH offered us a chance to work on reverse-engineering alien technology. We couldn't resist. They … neglected to mention _everything_ we were signing up for."

Clay returned his optics to June's monitor and cocked his head at the image. She'd dragged one of the corpses over to the wall and had cut the rope into long segments.

"Maybe there's still a way to get 'em to back down." June picked up a length of rope and tied it into a noose.

Clay stared at the screen and shook his head slowly. _What the hell is she doing?_

"Jesus Christ," Sierra blurted. Clay glanced at her and realized she'd just noticed what June was up to. Everyone else in the room looked at her and then turned to the monitors. They froze, some of them gaping in shock, when they saw it.

"I have an idea. It's so fucked-up that I can't believe I even thought of it, never mind actually going through with it." June slipped the noose around the dead body's neck and pulled it tight. "See if you guys can herd as many of 'em as possible toward my position. I'm gonna see if I can scare 'em enough to surrender."

* * *

"I wonder if I even want to know what she's got in mind," Jack muttered as he and Terwilliger slipped up behind a pair of MECH troops firing at Washington and Chang, who'd taken cover behind a shipping container. Jack was already having enough trouble staying focused, with the worries about Arcee getting zapped by whatever MECH had done flitting constantly through his mind. His mom had already said and done enough fucked-up things while pretending to be an unhinged assassin.

"I'm looking forward to it." Terwilliger laughed. "'Crazy' June is hotter than hell."

"That's my _mom_ you're talking about."

"I'm just sayin', if I didn't already have my heart set on Strika …"

"I don't want that image in my head!" Jack grimaced. "You and Strika, okay. You and Mom, _no_!"

"Well, whatever June's up to, I'm in favor of anything that might make Sokolov shit himself out of sheer terror," Arcee said over the comm. "I already had reason enough to hate him, but then he reappeared _just_ as you were about to fuck me silly this morning."

"Speaking of images I don't want in my head," June muttered before grunting as if she were lifting something heavy. "I'm almost set, here. Chase 'em down this tunnel so they can see my handiwork."

Jack shook his head as he and Terwilliger took cover behind a stack of metal crates. Jack leaned out long enough to zap both MECH guys with his EMP rifle. They twitched as their radios and other electronic gear fried. The one on the right yanked his helmet off and blurted, "Shit!"

Terwilliger leaned out of cover and cleared his throat. Both men spun around and snapped their rifles up. Something from the left knocked the guns out of their hands and Jack glanced over to find Moonracer grinning and aiming her railgun at them. She raised her left hand and waggled a finger as if scolding a child while keeping her aim steady with her other arm. Both guys turned and bolted.

Terwilliger fired a few shots into the mud at their feet and they darted to the left. Moonracer blasted a nearby crate apart and they jerked back to the right. She and Terwilliger kept it up, steering them toward the tunnel, and grinned at each other when the pair vanished inside. Jack glanced around and found more MECH troops retreating in the same direction until only Sokolov remained outside.

Elita-1 leaped over the crater rim, dropped onto a pallet of crates beside him, and smashed it under her feet. Sokolov stumbled away and tried to aim his rifle up at her. Before he could pull the trigger, she raised her fist and drove it into the ground directly in front of him, sending up a spray of mud and water and shaking the ground hard enough to make him stagger. She clamped her thumb and index finger onto his rifle, yanked it from his grip, and flicked it over her shoulder, sending it tumbling out of sight a few hundred yards away.

Sokolov reached for another weapon under his tactical vest, but Elita swatted a small wooden crate and slammed it into him with enough force to smash it open and knock him flat. The gun jolted from his hand and splashed into a mud puddle. He scrambled for it, but she stomped it into the ground, her enormous foot missing him by mere inches. He rolled away, got back on his feet, and took a few steps back. She raised her foot again and he turned and sprinted into the tunnel. She lunged after him and tried to stomp on him again, punching a deep hole into the mud a split-second after he vanished inside. She turned and smirked at the others.

"Just wanted to be sure he followed them."

"Uh-huh." Jack chuckled and walked toward the mouth of the tunnel. "Okay, let's see what kind of unspeakable horrors Mom's about to unleash on 'em."

The rest of the team joined him, the Cybertronians advancing slowly with their arms sticking out, just in case. He let out a little sigh of relief when he stepped into the tunnel and out of the constant, pouring rain. He grimaced at the water dripping off every part of his armor and glanced around. Miko and the rest of Ashanti's team had taken the lead while Arcee and the others moved more slowly to avoid any more nasty surprises.

"So," Miko said, "what do you think June's up to?"

"Who knows? Given the things she's come up with already, it could be _anything_."

They followed a curve in the tunnel and found the surviving MECH troops standing a few yards away, staring with their mouths agape at a half-dozen bodies hanging from nooses tied to the scaffolding, swinging gently back and forth.

"Holy shit," Terwilliger mumbled.

"What is it?" Khalilah said from Jack's helmet speakers. "A few of us haven't caught up yet. What's going on?"

Terwilliger burst into laughter as several of the MECH guys dropped their guns and backed away slowly. "Wow, that is _fucked-up_!"

"What? What did June do?"

"The dead bodies …" He shook his head slowly and laughed again. " _She fuckin' strung 'em up!_ "

* * *

"What?" Camille stared at the nearly identical images of the swinging corpses on each monitor.

"Wow." A chill ran up and down Sierra's spine, but at the same time she could barely hold in a burst of laughter. She glanced over at Clay and snickered at his almost enraptured expression.

"Yep," he muttered, "I'm totally in love."

"I'm with Terwilliger on that," one of Raf's older brothers mumbled. "It's kinda fucked-up."

Camille arched an eyebrow at him. "Kinda?"

"I've seen worse." He shrugged.

" _Where_?" She shook her head. "No, wait, never mind."

Sierra stifled a giggle and turned back to the monitors as June slid down a rope she'd tied to the scaffolding. Her boots hit the ground and she grinned and held her arms out as if trying to embrace someone.

"Ah! Just in time to join my collection!" She pulled her knife from her belt and ran her gloved thumb along its edge.

One of the MECH guys aimed his gun at her, and several others backed away from her. Ashanti's team took aim at the former while stepping aside to keep the latter out of their line of fire. June's Stepford smile grew even larger and she stared directly into the man's eyes.

"I need to add more voices to my chorus," she said, then giggled. "The more voices, the more beautiful they sound when they sing my victims to sleep."

Ashanti closed the distance between her and the guy keeping June covered. All the other MECH troops kept their eyes on June or on the hanging bodies. Ashanti took a few steps to the right, entering the man's field of view, and he finally noticed her. His head twitched toward her, then he grimaced and raised his hands. Ashanti snapped the gun away from him and backed up until she'd rejoined the rest of her team. The motion caught the attention of several others and they dropped their weapons and raised their hands, realizing at the same time what would happen if they even tried to resist.

"There." Roderick smiled and pointed at the screens. "See? They've wrapped it up."

Sokolov glanced around and snarled at his people when he realized they weren't going to fight back. "What are you waiting for? _Shoot them_!"

"They'll mow us down if we even look at 'em funny." One of the still-armed guys tossed his rifle away and raised his hands. "Prison's better than dying."

"No." Sokolov's expression and sudden cold tone made Sierra's heart skip a beat. "It's the same thing."

"Oh, hell," Roderick mumbled.

Sokolov lunged at the nearest of his men, wrenched the rifle from his hands, and aimed it straight at Jack. June's eyes widened and her mouth opened as if she were about to scream. Arcee took a step toward them and Ashanti's team focused their aim on Sokolov.

"You'd better hope my finger doesn't convulse on the trigger when you shoot me," he growled.

"Shit!" Clay leaned forward, stared at the screens, and covered his mouth with his hand. "They're probably using the same ammo they had at their base in the desert. It'll burn right through his armor."

"Jack!" Arcee reached out to put her hand between him and Sokolov - then she screamed and yanked her arm back. She stared at her hand as it twitched a few times and then froze up. She turned to glare at Sokolov and he smirked back at her.

"Miniature version of the devices we placed around the edge of the crater. I keep it in a pocket and activated it while running into the tunnel. You should never have taken your eyes off me."

"Hold your fire, everyone," Ashanti whispered.

"If any of you get within thirty feet of me, you'll end up like your dead friend outside." Sokolov sneered at Arcee and turned back to Jack. "You. Get over here."

"Go fuck yourself."

"Get over here _now_ , or I'll kill you right in front of your mother, and she'll have to live with that for the rest of her life."

"You even try that," Ashanti shouted, "and we'll light your ass up."

"Of course, but which of us would lose more?" Sokolov turned his sneer on June. "Certainly not _me_."

"Okay, okay, just don't hurt anyone." Jack walked slowly toward him.

"Jack, don't!" June shifted her eyes from him to Sokolov and back. "Don't get near him! Just run!"

"Then he'll just shoot me in the back or turn his gun on someone else." Keeping his hands raised, Jack continued his slow march over to Sokolov.

"Good boy. The rest of you, stay right where you are. The two of us are leaving, and if you try to follow, I'll shoot him in the stomach and _laugh_ while he slowly burns up from the inside out."

"Put your guns down, everyone." June's voice was soft, her tone chilling. She took a step toward Sokolov and kept her glare laser-focused on him even as he snapped the rifle over to her and back to Jack. "If you hurt him, I won't just shoot you. I'll lock you away in a dark basement somewhere no one will ever find you, and I'll keep you hooked up to life support while I cut you _slowly_ into tiny pieces." She put that unbalanced gleam in her eye again and continued her approach. "Keeping the patient awake during all those surgeries was a bit of a challenge at first, but I figured it out a long time ago. I can keep you alive and conscious and _screaming_ for at least a week. Two, if I _really_ take my sweet time."

Sokolov stared at her and a muscle in his jaw twitched.

While she kept his attention on her, Ashanti and Terwilliger inched closer to him. He twitched his head to the right as if starting to glance in their direction, but June took a bigger step forward and he focused on her again.

"Hey! _Don't_ take your fucking eyes off me!" She pointed her knife at him. "If you so much as _touch_ Jack, you'll _beg_ for death day after day after day, and it _will not come_. Do you understand? You obviously aren't afraid to die, but what I'll do to you will be _so_ much worse. You'll be my _plaything_."

 _Holy shit._ Sierra shivered again and glanced around the room. Everyone's expressions ranged from unsettled to scared half to death. Camille rubbed a hand over her face.

"What the hell's she doing? He's got a machine gun and all she's got is a knife. She's gonna get herself killed."

"No," Clay said, "she's keeping Sokolov distracted while the others sneak up on him. She's protecting her son."

A scuffing sound came from one of the speakers and Sierra turned back. _What …?_ Everyone on the monitors had turned to stare at Terwilliger, and Sierra realized one of his boots must've scraped across the ground.

Sokolov spun to face him and Ashanti, realized what they'd been doing, and whipped his gun up.

On Arcee's monitor, Strika lunged forward suddenly and thrust her right arm out, shoving her hand between them and Sokolov just as he pulled the trigger. Several rounds drilled into her palm and she grimaced. She kept her hand in front of Terwilliger and Ashanti even though her arm from the elbow down shuddered and then seized up. Sierra realized Strika must've stuck her arm into the thirty-foot radius Sokolov had mentioned. She glanced at the feed from Terwilliger's helmet cam and sucked in a quick breath as whatever was in the bullets melted through to the back of Strika's hand.

 _Oh, shit, if she hadn't blocked those rounds, they would've gone right through his head!_ Another chill rippled through Sierra and she covered her mouth with both hands.

On several of the other screens, Jack fired his armor's thrusters and launched at Sokolov. June followed a split-second later, and then Miko shot into the frame. All three of them plowed into Sokolov and knocked him to the ground. Jack clamped his hands onto Sokolov's gun, yanked on it several times, and finally wrenched it out of his grasp. Sokolov swiped his arm out and Sierra spotted a knife in his hand.

 _When the hell did he pull that out?_

Jack stumbled away from him, clutching at his throat, and a cold sensation rushed through Sierra's guts.

 _Jack? Oh, Christ_ …

* * *

Panicking, Jack pressed his hand to his neck and staggered away from the others. Once he was sure there wasn't any blood where it shouldn't be, he took his hand away and glanced at it.

 _The knife didn't get through my armor._ He sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a rush. The piece of his armor covering his neck and joints couldn't be as hard as the rest of his suit for obvious reasons, so if the knife could penetrate armor like the ones Ashanti's team carried …

 _If he'd leaned just a little closer to me, he would've turned me into a Pez dispenser._ Jack shivered and glanced around. He found his mom staring at him with wide eyes and gaping mouth, and he gave her a thumbs-up to let her know he was okay. She sighed and slumped against the nearest crate, then pulled herself together and turned to face Sokolov again.

Jack turned to Arcee and found her glaring at Sokolov and shifting from one foot to another as if she wanted to charge in and stomp him flat. The rest of the Autobots and their new allies kept their weapons aimed at the ground, since they couldn't get a clear shot with Miko in the line of fire. The girl dodged some of Sokolov's punches, but others connected. She staggered with each impact, but her armor took the worst of it and she kept punching and kicking right back at him. Most of her blows missed, but it kept his eyes on her and off Jack and his mom - for the moment, at least.

"I am reluctant to give this order," Optimus said softly as Ashanti and the others spread around the chamber and encircled Sokolov, "but we cannot approach him as long as he has that device. We must let our human friends handle this."

Jack nodded, caught Arcee's optics, and held a hand up, telling her silently to stay put. Then he focused his full attention on Sokolov as he got a solid grip on Miko and slammed her to the ground. He raised the knife and plunged it straight down toward her neck. Miko crossed her arms and blocked it, but he bore down and tried to force the blade into her anyway.

" _No_!" June charged him even though she probably had no idea what to do. Jack certainly didn't, himself, but he ran in anyway, hoping he could at least distract Sokolov long enough for Miko to wriggle out from under him.

In the corner of his eye Jack spotted one of the MECH troops raising his gun slowly. Jack noticed the color and texture of his skin and realized it was the one named Conte - the one whose face had reminded his mom of a thrombosed hemorrhoid. Jack started to raise a hand to warn the others, but Elita lashed out suddenly, clamped a hand around Conte's body, and gripped his head with the tips of her thumb and index finger, as if getting ready to pinch a zit off.

"You want to drop your weapon," she snarled. Trembling, he let it go and Moonracer caught it before it hit the ground. Elita glanced at the other Cybertronians and nodded at the rest of Sokolov's men. "Don't get within range of that device, but restrain these assholes."

The others crouched, reached out, and scooped one of them up in each hand. Since both of Arcee's hands were paralyzed, all she could do was stare menacingly at the MECH guys until they'd been picked up.

Sokolov grunted and Jack turned back to him and Miko. She shoved his hands to the left and the blade hilted in the ground inches from her shoulder. She backhanded him before he could pull the knife out of the packed dirt, and a tooth arched off to the right, followed by a spurt of blood. Sokolov let out an enraged roar, cocked his fist back, and drove it into her helmet again and again, seemingly not noticing his knuckles getting bloodier each time a blow landed.

 _Gotta do something!_ Jack glanced around for a blunt instrument or another knife. His mom stood nearby with her blade ready, but couldn't do anything with it out of fear of hurting Miko.

Miko reached up and jammed her thumb into Sokolov's left eye. He screamed and reared back, but she kept her grip on his face and kept digging in. He cried out again and tried to pry her hand away. She finally let go, but only to put both arms around his head and pull him to her as if hugging him.

Then she fired the thruster built into her chest plate - directly into Sokolov's face. He let out a scream that filled Jack's guts with ice, and flailed his arms until Miko released him. He rolled around on the ground and continued thrashing and screaming.

"Whoa," Terwilliger muttered. "That was _mean_. Fuckin' awesome, but mean as hell."

"Yeah, I think we're done here." Miko picked herself up, dusted herself off, and walked over to Jack and his mom. "You guys okay? Jack, your throat …"

"I'm fine. The blade didn't get through." Jack glanced past her to watch Ashanti's team converge on Sokolov.

June rushed forward and threw her arms around Jack. "You had me scared for a few seconds."

"I'll try not to do it again." He put his arms around her.

"Get that device off him and deactivate it," Ashanti said, keeping Sokolov covered as Terwilliger and Chang pinned him down. Washington began searching his pockets.

He lunged suddenly, letting out another strangled cry of rage, and twisted out of their grasp. He scrambled across the floor, scooped up a gun one of his men had dropped, and whirled toward Jack.

 _Oh, fuck!_ He pushed his mom out of the line of fire just as Sokolov pulled the trigger. Two bullets slammed into his chest before Ashanti's team and Miko piled on top of Sokolov. He glanced down and found his armor turning white-hot and melting away. His heart pounded as he fumbled with the latches.

"Get it off! Oh, shit, get it off!"

"Jack!" June ran back to him, swatted his hands out of the way, and popped the latches. She pulled his chest plate off and ran her hands over the undersuit. "It's okay, it didn't get through." She cupped his face in her hands and he took several gasping breaths.

"Thanks," he mumbled before hugging her again. He stared over her shoulder at Sokolov as Ashanti and Terwilliger grabbed his arms and hauled him up. Jack looked into his remaining eye and shivered again. What little sanity Sokolov had possessed a few minutes ago was completely gone now. He continued snarling and whimpering in pain, but also continued struggling against them and lunging at Jack.

"Kill you," he sort of growled and hissed at the same time. "I'll fucking kill you! You'll _never_ be safe! You hear me?" He lunged again and Ashanti's hands slipped off his arm for a split-second before she clamped onto him again.

June stepped back and her expression changed slightly. Hardened. Just enough for Jack to pick up. That ice-water sensation in his guts returned full-force.

 _Uh-oh._

She glanced around at the ground, took two steps, and leaned over to pick up a pistol.

"Uh, June," Ashanti muttered, her eyes opening wider. "Wait -"

June faced Sokolov and pulled the trigger, punching a round through his good eye. His head snapped back and his body sagged in Ashanti's and Terwilliger's arms.

"Shit," Ashanti whispered. She and Terwilliger let the body drop.

"Huh." Miko wiped at her visor, and Jack realized she'd been splattered by a bit of Sokolov's brain. She flicked it off, crouched, and wiped her hand on his pants. "Gross."

"June …" Ashanti held a hand out to her and approached slowly.

Jack turned back to his mom. Her hand trembled and her eyes widened and filled with tears. She lowered the gun and let it fall from her hand. She turned slowly, found Jack, and her eyes shifted back and forth as if she was recovering from shock. Jack's heart pounded and his hands shook as he put them on her shoulders.

"Mom?"

"I … I just … I just …" She turned slowly, stared at Sokolov's body, and sucked in several quick breaths. She grunted something that sounded like, " _Oh_ ," fumbled with the seals on her helmet, finally popped them and yanked the helmet off. Then she hunched forward and vomited.

"Easy, Mom." Jack put his arm around her shoulders as she wiped her mouth with a trembling hand. "Just breathe. It's gonna be okay."

"He had it coming." In the corner of his eye, Elita shrugged.

"It's not always that simple." Ashanti glanced at her, then around at the others, and nodded back in the direction they'd come. "Let's clear these MECH guys out of here. The last thing June needs now is an audience."

The Cybertronians nodded and carried the prisoners away. She watched them leave, glanced at her team and motioned for them to follow.

"I'll catch up with you guys." She walked over to June and rested a hand on her shoulder as they trickled out. Miko joined them and held June's hand.

Jack took his helmet off and leaned over to put himself directly in front of her. "Mom?"

"I'm … yes, I'm … uh, here." She wiped tears off her cheeks, closed her eyes, and took a few more long breaths.

"Come on." Jack helped her get back on her feet. He kept his hand on her arm to steady her and guided her through the tunnel. They emerged into the dreary daylight and pouring rain. Arcee had been waiting for them, crouching at the mouth of the tunnel.

"Hey, partner," she said softly, and reached out awkwardly to stroke his cheek with a non-functional finger. He smiled up at her. She leaned over, moving cautiously, and lowered her face almost to his eye level. He raised himself onto the tips of his toes and kissed her.

June managed a shaky smile and her eyes cleared a little more. Jack gave Arcee one more peck on the lips and turned back to his mom.

"You back with us?"

"More or less." She sighed. "I'll be okay, I think. Just … give it time."

"Okay." Jack hugged her again. "Let's go home."


	15. Chapter 15

"Good morning, June. I hope you're feeling better today." Arcee sat across from her at the picnic table and Jack took the empty spot beside his mom.

June stared off into the distance with bleary eyes.

"Hey." Jack put a hand on her shoulder and she glanced at him as if just now realizing he was here. "You okay? You look like you didn't get much sleep."

"None. I just … every time I started to fall asleep, I remembered the … well, you know." June stared at the table. "I keep seeing the back of Sokolov's head explode. And I'm the one who pulled the trigger."

"Saying this might not help, but you didn't do anything wrong." Arcee patted June's hand. "He'd already killed a lot of people, including kids, and he intended to kill Jack. If you hadn't wasted him, I would have, even if it cost me another limb."

"I keep telling myself that. It hasn't helped. I'm a _nurse_ … and I took a life."

"That doesn't make you a bad person, Mom." Jack put his arm around her shoulders. "Miko and I have done our share of killing since we got involved in all this. So has Arcee and the other 'Bots, and Ashanti and her team."

"Most of those were in the heat of battle during a war. With you, it was an accident. You didn't mean to kill that guy, you were just defending yourself." June shook her head slowly. "This was a _choice_. Sokolov wasn't going anywhere. Once Miko got her hands on him, he was finished. He wouldn't stop threatening you and something in me just _snapped_."

"June ... " Arcee shrugged. "I wish I knew what to say to make this better. I dunno, maybe this being so painful for you is a good sign. If everyone hurt this much after taking someone's life, the history of both of our planets might not be filled with warfare. And mine might still be alive."

Footsteps in the distance caught her attention and she glanced over at the mess hall to find Ashanti's team, Miko and her parents, Clayton, Rosalina, and the human-sized bodies of Bulkhead, Khalilah, and Strika approaching. Arcee smiled and waved.

 _Just in time. Maybe they can talk June out of her funk._

Everyone greeted them and sat. Arcee noticed Terwilliger waiting for Strika to take a seat before hurriedly plopping down beside her, as if going out of his way to be near her. It reminded her a bit of how Jack had acted around her before she figured out how they felt about each other. Except in this case, Strika seemed unlikely to be anything but oblivious to Terwilliger, or to understand his crush on her even if she was aware of it.

Clayton placed a tray of drinks beside June and took the empty spot beside her. He held a cup out to her and said, "I brought cocoa."

"Thanks." She managed to smile as she accepted the cup.

The ground-shaking footsteps of a full-sized Cybertronian drew Arcee's attention again and she glanced up to find Bilby making his way carefully across the parking lot toward the tables. He lifted a hand, hesitated, and waved as he reached them.

"I, uh … hope you don't mind me joining you for a while. After what happened yesterday, I …" He shrugged, glanced down at June, and sat cross-legged on the pavement nearby. "I don't know. I thought you might need some reassurance."

"We all thought the same thing," Roz said. She smiled and reached over to pat June's shoulder.

"Glad to have you here," Arcee said. "June's in serious need of cheering up."

"I'll try. I've been a 'glass-half-empty' kind of person for a long time, so stop me if I make things worse." He chuckled nervously and glanced at Arcee and Strika. "I hope your repairs are coming along."

"Arcee's getting her replacements first, since she lost both arms yesterday. The parts we need have already been fabricated, and I'm next in line. In the meantime, I decided to use my miniature body to join the others in offering Ms. Darby whatever support she needs."

"It's much appreciated," June said softly. "I could really use _something_ to help me live with myself."

"June, you did the right thing." Roz kept her hand on June's shoulder. "You may feel like you did something horrible, but … well, you know the other Pretenders and I were on the wrong side of the war for so many centuries. You did what you did to protect your son. We … the things we did were _unforgivable_ , and we did them for no other reason than being power-hungry and insane. By the time we came to our senses, our homeworld was a casualty of war." Roz shook her head and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "I did things that I can _never_ tell Lucas or Bobby about. If I did, they would _hate_ me, and they'd be right to."

"Whatever you did," Strika said, "it pales in comparison to the things I am responsible for, if only because I'm so old and was involved in the war for so long. It took the death of our homeworld to show me the cost of my … misjudgment of _everything_. But we cannot change the past. All we can do is try to make up for it now, even though we'll never … wash the blood off our hands, to use a human phrase." She offered June a very slight smile. "Sokolov was determined to kill your son. There's no guarantee that he wouldn't have escaped later and followed through on his threats. You did what was necessary to stop him. That makes you a good person. _Far_ better than any of us."

"See, Mom?" Jack smiled and put an arm around her shoulders. "Try not to let it get to you."

"Easier said than done, but … I'll try. Might take a while, though."

"Well," Arcee said, "one way to think of it is that Sokolov was to you what Airachnid was to me, in a way. Taking her out didn't make me feel as triumphant as I expected it to, and it didn't bring back the friend she murdered, but now she won't hurt anyone else."

"Fair point, I guess." June took a slow sip of her cocoa. "Sometimes … you have to put the rabid dog down, right?"

"Exactly."

"I just hope I never have to do it again."

"I'll understand if you don't want to continue your training," Ashanti said. "It'd be a shame to lose you, but if you keep going on missions, sooner or later you might end up in that position again."

"I've been thinking about that all night." June stared into her cup for a long moment. "I need to keep at it. I need to be there to protect Jack as long as he's determined to stay in the fight."

"Okay. Take as much time as you need and let me know when you're ready."

"Today will be fine. Right after breakfast." June managed a brief grin. "Maybe another long workout will leave me exhausted enough to actually get some sleep tonight."

Arcee smiled. "Glad to still have you on the team, June."

* * *

Ashanti's phone vibrated and she took it out of her pocket and glanced at the text message on the screen. She smirked and turned to Miko.

"The woman you knocked out finally woke up."

"Just now?" Terwilliger turned a wide-eyed stare on Miko. "Wow. When you knock someone out, you don't fuck around."

"It's the robot arm." Miko grinned and held up her metal hand. "I hope she and her girlfriend aren't in too much trouble. They seemed like they didn't really want to be involved in the shady shit MECH's been up to."

"Yeah, they seemed to be more interested in working with alien technology than anything else." Ashanti shrugged. "They'll have to go through a lot of questioning and background checks, but if they pass everything, they could end up working here on the base, if they want to. We gave the Vehicon defectors and the Pretenders a second chance, so why not?"

"Even though we don't really deserve it," Bilby muttered. "I mean, after everything we've done …"

"Well," Khalilah said, "something I've recently begun to figure out is that hating each other just keeps the war going. Our planet is dead, so _all_ of us lost. There's no point in fighting each other, but if we can't forgive each other and move past old prejudices, we'll never stop. The wheel just keeps turning."

Jensen grinned and slipped his hand into hers. "I accidentally got her hooked on _Doctor Who_ and one of Capaldi's speeches seemed to stick in her head. Wasn't much else to do while I was in the infirmary, so I used some of the time to catch up on shows I'd been missing."

"Heh. Yeah. Several of those scenes hit close to home, in fact. They just reinforced a decision I'd already made, but yeah. Some of that stuff really put into words what I've been feeling."

Khalilah held his hand between hers before continuing.

"Maybe Megatron and his inner circle had some sort of endgame in mind, way back then, but those of us on the front lines fought the Autobots just because we hated them. We'd seen them kill our friends, and I understand now that they saw us doing the same to theirs. What took some of us a long time to realize was how those in the top ranks just threw us at the 'Bots and didn't care how many of us were slaughtered."

She looked up and met Arcee's gaze, then glanced around at Ashanti's team.

"What really drove it home to me was seeing your team board the _Nemesis_ and use its fabricators to make parts Arcee needed to survive. You didn't go there to kill us. You didn't attack us out of hatred. You did it to save a friend. All of you risked your lives to save _one_ friend. Some of you died in the battle and Bulkhead was nearly killed, too, but you thought it was worth the risk. That's the moment I knew I _had_ to get out of there and join you. I needed to be part of something that _mattered_. I needed to be among people who were willing to risk it all for a friend, and I needed to be able to do the same for them."

"Well, I'm certainly glad you joined us." Jensen slipped his arm around her waist and then glanced up at Bilby. "We should thank you and the others for helping us out, as well as offer our condolences for the loss of your friend."

"Thank you. I didn't know him very well. Casualties racked up so quickly during the war that we eventually learned not to get too attached to each other just to avoid even more pain. I don't know, maybe that made us worse … made it easier not to care about anything but surviving the next battle. And then it became more difficult to even care about that."

 _Ah. That might explain why he seemed to keep trying to get himself killed during the last couple of battles._ Ashanti held in a sigh. _We need to figure out a way to help him before he succeeds - and takes someone else with him._

"I can understand that," Arcee said. "After losing my closest friend, for a long time I didn't care if I lived through the next battle. I just needed to remain operational long enough to achieve the mission objective, but once that was done, it didn't matter. If I fell, someone else would take my place."

Jack clasped her hand and she smiled.

"I finally found a few reasons to stay alive, though."

"Good. Too many people have already died." Bilby stared at the pavement in front of him and fell silent. Ashanti took a slow breath.

"We should set up a … therapy program, I guess. I've been through my share of trauma, but I can't even imagine what it must be like to endure _thousands_ of years of warfare. If talking to someone might help, a lot of people are here to listen, including me."

He continued staring for nearly half a minute before he seemed to snap himself out of it and glance down at her.

"I, uh … I don't know, I've never told anyone this before …"

"Several of us have noticed that you seemed to go out of your way to put yourself in danger in recent fights. That could endanger the people fighting alongside you, and it could have an effect on those who care about you."

"I hadn't thought about it that way. I'm sorry, I don't want to accidentally get someone else hurt. I just … it's …" He wrung his hands as he tried to continue. "Before I transferred to the _Nemesis_ , I was stationed on Messatine."

 _Huh. I've heard that name before. Wait, wasn't that what they called the planet the Decepticon Justice Division was based on?_ A shiver ran up her spine. _From what the others said about the DJD, it's no wonder he's so fucked up. He probably witnessed a lot of people being tortured to death._

"I've never been there," Khalilah said. "The stories I've heard about the place were more than enough to make me want to stay _far_ away from it."

"I wish I had," Bilby almost whispered. "The things I saw were … well, there are no words to describe how horrible all of it was. But one in particular was … it was the most brutal thing I've _ever_ seen. I feel like I could delete my memory of it all, and it would _still_ haunt me."

 _Jesus._ Ashanti glanced at June and wondered if this was what she needed to hear right now. Bilby seemed to pick up on it and shook his head quickly.

"I'm sorry, I'll probably make everything worse if I keep talking about it. And I don't know if I'm ready yet, anyway, after keeping it to myself for so long. Maybe if you set up that program you mentioned …"

Ashanti nodded. "I'll do whatever I can to help. And any time you want to talk about it, my door's always open."

"Thank you," he said softly.

Everyone glanced around at each other as the awkward silence stretched out. Finally, Clayton took a sip of his cocoa and motioned at June.

"Well, maybe certain people need to hear something a little more upbeat."

* * *

 _How do we shift gears after hearing_ that _?_ Jack held in a sigh, reached across the table, and laced his fingers between Arcee's.

His mom stared at her cocoa for another long moment, then took her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through whatever was on the screen, probably just to have something to do. She finally rolled her eyes and took another sip of her cocoa.

"I've been ignoring all the texts I got this morning, and it looks like I was right to." She glanced at Jack. "A bunch of them are from Grandpa."

"The one on your dad's side or your mom's side?"

"Guess."

Judging by her expression, he didn't need to. "Your dad's. Wonderful."

"You, uh, don't get along?" Arcee arched a brow plate.

"Never have." June sighed. "He's always been a bigot and a misogynist as far back as I can remember. The thing I remember most about him is how he liked to throw around the N-word and say women should shut up and get back into the kitchen where they belong."

"Ah." Miko shook her head. "So, he was a dudebro before there was an official label for it?"

"Among other things, yeah." June lifted the phone for a second. "A few snippets of interviews we did with Tenesha have been released on the evening news. Stuff that didn't have anything classified in it, just a few puff pieces to help the public get to know the Autobots and hopefully defuse some of the panic people have been going through. Anyway, Gramps went on a long rant about Jack dating one of the giant alien robots."

Jack rolled his eyes and then grinned. "You should tell him Arcee and I have started fucking, just to see if his neck explodes."

June snickered. "Then he capped it off by saying I need to drop some weight and find a man to cook and clean for."

" _What_?" Clay gaped at her. "Aside from that sexist bullshit, you're one of the slimmest people I've ever met. Does he need glasses or something?"

"I _have_ put on a few pounds in the past few months, but I think it's an improvement. I was so skinny because I hardly ever had time to eat much thanks to working such long hours at the hospital in Jasper and then being on-call when I wasn't there. Things are a lot better on this base, with the General's policy of running four six-hour shifts per day. Having that extra time makes all the difference in the world." June poked at her phone's screen. "But Gramps is a hypocrite. I mean, telling me to lose weight when _he_ could lose my entire body mass and _still_ be three times my size. He just thinks it doesn't matter because he's a man. Here, take a look at this."

She loaded a photo on her phone and held it out to Clay. His optics opened even wider, as did his mouth.

"Wow. He's got _no_ business telling anyone to lose weight. He's so - uh, sorry. He's part of your family, so I should just shut up. Don't want to overstep …"

"Oh, no, he's a total asshole, so let 'er rip."

"Well, in that case, he's so fuckin' fat, Thanos had to snap his fingers _twice_."

June burst out laughing, and most of the others did, too. Jack laughed so hard that he had to lean on the table and catch his breath.

 _Wow. I'm totally saying that to his face if he gives Mom any shit in front of me._

He took a few more deep breaths to recover from the light-headedness. When his vision cleared, he noticed his mom reaching over to clasp Clay's hand. A huge grin almost split Jack's face.

 _It's about time she had a chance at a social life._

Once June was able to breathe normally again, she flicked an enormous grin of her own at Clay.

"That's exactly what I needed."

* * *

"You sure you want to do this, June?" Ashanti paused at the door to Silas's cell block.

"Don't really want to, but I think I _need_ to." June took the tablet from Ashanti and loaded the photo they'd decided to show Silas. It was a still taken from Kefira's helmet camera capturing the instant June had blown the back of Sokolov's skull off. The half-dozen bodies she'd strung up hung in the background. "I think it'll help me get past … what I had to do. And in case Silas is planning to go after Jack if he ever manages to escape, I need to make him understand what a _bad_ idea that would be."

"Okay. I'll be right behind you if you need me." Ashanti unlocked the door and let June walk through.

An idea popped into June's head as she tried to get back into character. She pulled her knife out and strummed it across the bars of each cell on the way to Silas. When she reached him, she found him standing in the middle of his cell, hands clasped behind his back, smirking at her. She spun the knife the way Ashanti had taught her and slipped it back into its sheath.

"Ah, I see you've survived."

"So have Jack and Arcee."

"I'll be sure to remedy that at the first opportunity."

June took a moment to stifle her sudden anger before taking a step closer to the bars. She held the tablet up and his smirk vanished.

"The last time some asshole threatened my son, I fucking killed him. If you're stupid enough to try to contact someone on the outside and send them after Jack, or break out of here and take a shot at him yourself, I won't even give you the dignity of a bullet in the head. I'll beat you to death with my bare hands and drink your fucking blood." She handed the tablet over to Ashanti. "I just wanted to be the one to tell you that MECH is _over_. They're done. They've all been arrested or killed, and _if_ there are any more lurking somewhere out there, as soon as they show their faces, I'll blow their heads off. Just like I did to your lapdog."

Silas glared at her, unflinching but without his usual smugness. She mirrored his smirk from a moment ago.

"We know about their plans for Damocles, too. The satellite has been dismantled and we're keeping a close eye on everyone who was involved in its planning and construction. Oh, and I know where _your_ family is. All of them. And if _anything_ happens to Jack or Arcee and I even _suspect_ you _might_ be responsible, I'll be paying each of them a visit before I come for you."

Silas's brows dipped even more, a vein on his forehead throbbed, and a muscle in his jaw twitched. June cranked her smirk up a few notches before walking away.

"Enjoy the rest of your stay, Leland."

Once she'd followed Ashanti through the door and paused while the colonel closed and locked it, she slumped against the wall and let a long breath rush out.

"I'm _so_ glad that's over!"

"I think he bought it. You were convincing enough to chill _my_ blood."

"Well, as fun as messing with him was, I'll be fine if I never have to see him again. I didn't feel that way before … well, before yesterday. But now …"

"I understand. Any time you change your mind about continuing your training, just let me know. I won't think less of you."

"Thanks." June followed her down the hallway. "It's kind of like what Tomoko said about facing Airachnid again. If she didn't, she'd always be afraid. If I don't keep going with this, I won't be able to be there for Jack. After missing so much of his childhood because I was working, I need to do this."

"Okay, then." Ashanti smiled and gently clapped June's shoulder. "I'll meet you in the dojo. Bring your armor. I'll get you started on the basics of using your suit thrusters in a fight. Miko's … inventive use of hers gave me a few ideas."

"Speaking of Miko, is there any news about whether she'll be allowed to stay?"

"Last I heard, her parents are working it out with General Sanchez. They're still worried, but she really seems to want this, so they're not standing in her way."

"I should be against it, myself, but after seeing how badly Jack wants to stick around, and seeing how serious Miko has gotten about it, well, I couldn't bear to dash their hopes. I'll just do everything I can to keep them safe." June took a slow breath. "So, I'll see you in a few minutes."

"See you then." Ashanti smiled and held the door open for her. June stepped into the parking lot and found a familiar blue motorcycle waiting for her.

"Hey, Arcee. Back in one piece, eh?"

"Yep. Ratchet finished attaching my new arms a few minutes ago. I figured you could use a lift over to the dojo."

"Thanks." June put on her helmet and climbed on.

"Jack's waiting for you there. He's still catching up on his schoolwork, but he wanted to hang out with you while he toils away at it."

"I'd like that. It'd be nice to spend a few hours with him that don't include being shot at." She chuckled, gripped the handlebars, and waited for Arcee to accelerate slowly.

"Yeah. My mini-me is with him, so we can both cheer you on."

"Glad to have the company. Just don't let him post any video of me making a fool of myself on Facebook, okay?"

"Aw, you'll do just fine. You've already proven you can handle whatever gets dished out to you."

 _So far, at least._ "We'll see. As cool as working on a spaceship would be, I'll be relieved when all this crap with the DJD and Unicron is finally over."

"Me, too. But hey, once we've dealt with all that stuff, we'll still have the spaceship, and more will probably be built. I never really had time to appreciate the sights during the war, but there's some pretty cool stuff around the galaxy. And the galaxy is a _big_ place. My people haven't explored and colonized that much of it. I'd love it if all of us could see the rest of it together."

 _Huh. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd actually be an astronaut. But I'm starting to see this the way Jack does. Once the last gasp of this war is finally over, it could be the beginning of a whole new era for both of our peoples. It's the kind of adventure no one on Earth has ever had the opportunity to go on. How could I pass that up, especially when my own kid wouldn't miss it for anything?_

"That would be fantastic!"

"Oh." Arcee's voice took on a mischievous tone. "And Clay just showed up in the dojo."

"Even better." June found herself grinning as the dark cloud hanging over her finally began to dissipate. _Whatever's in store, we'll face it together and we'll survive it. And then the adventure can begin._

She gripped Arcee's handlebars and leaned forward, silently encouraging her to increase her speed.

 _Keep moving forward._


End file.
